Pitch Black: Darkness Falls
by Smurf N Turf
Summary: Riddick encounters a mysterious woman after their ship crashes on a planet covered with ravenous nocturnal creatures. Within her lies a secret as terrible and dangerous as Riddick's own past. Consequently, Riddick finds himself inexplicably drawn to her.
1. Awakening

_**Ch. 1: Awakening**_

_**They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo-sleep, all but the primitive side...**_

_**...the animal side. No wonder I'm still awake. **_

Transporting her with civilians was a dangerous move by her captor, to say the least. She could hear the steady, melodic heartbeats of her fellow passengers and could smell the blood coursing through their veins as they slept, _**so vulnerable, so defenseless.**_ It made her mouth water. _**How long had it been since she had last fed?**_ She couldn't remember, which meant it had been too long. She tried to distract herself from finishing that dark thought by concentrating on other, less tempting, scents. She smelled a woman. Sweat, boots, tool belt, leather...prospector type. _**Free settlers...**__**And they only take the back roads, but what route? What route?**_ It was then that she caught the scent of the man she hated more than anyone on earth, her captor, the blue-eyed devil named Mr. Johns. She felt a feral snarl rise in her throat and thought about how nice it would be to rip out his with her elongated canines. _**The nerve of that asshole to dress up like a cop, when he was nothing but a filthy, stinkin' merc trying to make pay day. Well, I'm not going down that easy.**_

A distant noise echoed through the confines of her semi-conscious mind, breaking her train of thought, but she couldn't quite wrap her mind around what it might be. She was suddenly distracted by the scent of another passenger that was distinctly different from the others. It was thick and powerful, almost musky. It was the other convict her captor had picked up along the way. _**Riddick, I think that's what he had called him. **_She'd heard of him before. He was a legend in the slam, known for his ruthlessness and his insatiable taste for violence that rivaled her own. She caught a whiff of his scent again, powerful, tantalizing. She wondered what he would smell like up close. She heard the same noise again, but with sharper clarity this time. _**Was that gunfire?**_

Escaped convict and murderer, Isis Hale, groggily opened her eyes to a room full of chaos and death. Golf ball-sized objects propelled past her cryo-chamber with bullet-like speed, killing the passengers on either side of her. Their blood called to her like a seductive lover. How she longed to just taste it. It was dark inside the chamber, but her sharp eyes had no problem whatsoever as they calmly took in the details of her environment. Something had knocked them off course. _**What a pity. Guess my trip back to the slam will encounter some unavoidable obstacles. Or at least it will as soon as I put some distance between me and Mr. Johns**_, she thought.

Just then, Johns began to stir in his cell. As he came back to consciousness, he began to pull at his restraints. They wouldn't seem to budge. "Shit!" he screamed through clenched teeth as his harness suddenly gave way, hurtling him face first onto the ground, hard… He was knocked out cold. _**This is my chance**_, Isis thought to herself. _**It's now or never.**_


	2. Trapped

_Author's notes: I forgot to mention it in the previous chapter, but I do not claim ownership of Pitch Black, Chronicles or Riddick, or any of the characters and story lines therein. Please do not sue me LOL I'd also like to thank everyone who stopped by and read my story. I would like to give a special thanks to __Princess Leah Skywalker__ for being the first user to add me to her favorites list. Such an honor! So, thank you! Alrighty then, back to the story._

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Ch. 2

Suddenly, more objects erupted through the glass chamber Isis was trapped in, just missing her head by centimeters. _**I've got to get out now**_, she thought. She'd been fully capable of breaking free from her prison since the moment she was put in it. She had just been waiting for the perfect opportunity to bust out and escape, or even better, to kill Mr. Johns. This might be her only chance to kill him and escape. She promptly broke free of her restraints and kicked through the glass with effortless ease. She fell right on top of Johns, knocking all the breath out of her. But before she could even lift a finger, the back half of the ship exploded in a dizzying whirl of dirt, rocks, and sunlight. The impact threw Isis right off of Johns' body and straight into a wall, causing her to black out.

Slowly, Isis began to stir and attempted to rise to her feet. She let out a painful cry and fell back down again. Several of her ribs were either cracked or completely broken. Not to mention that her foot, now caught in some kind of cargo net, was twisted in the wrong direction. **Damn**_**. This day just keeps getting better and better**_, she thought. She lay there, letting her accelerated healing catch up with the extensive damage her body had taken during the crash. It's times like this when she was happy to be part demon, or at least that's what the prison guards at Crematoria had called them. _**Crematoria, the most secure prison in the universe**_, she mused. Apparently not secure enough, considering she was out and about. She let out an amused chuckle. That was a mistake, pain racked her body and she once again fell unconscious. She didn't want to go, but mind dragged her back to the day of her escape.

_Flashback:_

It was so dark… Darkness so strong that it felt like it might crush her. She was a girl of barely 18 years old, scared and alone. She had been just a child when she was convicted of a triple homicide after she went postal on some "mercs" who killed her father. She never knew who called the hit on him because she had killed every one of them in a fit of rage and unbridled violence. With no one to back her story, she was deemed mentally insane and a "danger to the public." She was thrown into the deepest, darkest hole the universe had to offer and had been forgotten about. For two years, she'd lived this way. She couldn't take it anymore. She was getting out dead or alive, preferably the latter. She hated not being able to see what lurked in the shadows, because nothing could stop her in broad daylight. No, no one could match her skill in combat. At least no human anyway... But, humans were the least of her problems now that she was trying to escape this shit hole they call a prison. More like hell… Or at least that's what it felt like as she rounded a corner and came face to face with a living nightmare, a hell hound…

Its haunting silver eyes locked on her like a homing beacon. She watched in horror as saliva cascaded over the side of its jowls like a gooey waterfall. She melted her back into the wall, careful not to make any sudden movements that would set the demon off. **This **_**is it. This is how I'm going to die**_, she thought as the hell hound began edging its way ever so slowly in her direction. It had all the time in the world. She wasn't going anywhere. It dropped into a crouching position, ready to pounce. Isis closed her eyes. Suddenly she heard the buzzing hiss of an electric prod and smelled smoke. She opened her eyes in utter disbelief as a guard burned the fur right off the rump of the now royally pissed off hell hound. It yelped and took off like a rocket growling insults over its shoulder as it ran away.

The guard turned his sights towards Isis. She shrank away from his gaze, so full of hatred and contempt. **"**You're not going anywhere**,"** he growled as he yanked her arm and began to drag her towards the hell hound's pit. Isis kicked and screamed, "Let go of me! Please, don't do this!" The guard just kept dragging her towards what she was sure would be her death. "This is what happens when you try to escape," he growled. "You're going to entertain our demons for a bit sweetheart." He unlocked an empty hell hound cage and threw her in. She watched in horror as he and three other guards began to lower her cage into a pit filled with at least a dozen ravenous hell hounds. "No, please! I promise, I'll never try to escape again," she pleaded. The guards just laughed at her and lowered her even deeper into the pit…


	3. Rebirth

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 3: Rebirth

No sooner had her cage touched the ground, a huge hell hound viciously lunged towards her. She released a sound of pure terror, sure she was about to die. The hell hound hit a black fence just centimeters away from her cage, but not before reaching between the bars and slashing her side wide-open with its massive paw. Isis cried out in agony, thrusting herself as far away from the hell hound as her cage would allow her. She hadn't noticed the fence at first, too distracted by being lowered into the pit. _**So, this is what happens to the people they bring down here, **_she thought_**. They let them think that they're going to die, only to be left in the dark with the demons.**_ Eventually, they must have died of starvation and she had a sinking feeling that she knew exactly what they did with the bodies afterward, as she watched at a least a dozen hell hounds lunge towards her cage. For hours, they leapt at her, snarling in frustration because she was just out of reach. She could hear yowls of laughter coming from the guards above every time she screamed…

Three days later….

She couldn't remember how long she'd been in there with the demons. It felt like it had been years. Not once had the guards given her anything to eat or drink. She just had to watch as they threw raw meat to the hell hounds, laughing in delight when the demons fought over the pathetic scraps they were given. She almost felt sorry for them… Somehow she had managed to curl up in the corner of her cage, opposite the feeding frenzy she could barely see on the other side of the fence. Her back burned like it was on fire and she wondered if the pain would ever go away. _**Of course it will…once I'm dead**_, she thought darkly. Somehow, she had managed to fall asleep.

When she woke up, she was shocked to discover that she could now see the fence and hell hounds on the other side of it with startling clarity. She also noticed that they weren't trying to attack her anymore. They were simply staring at her with a look of… anticipation? Was it possible for hell hounds to think of anything besides blood and hunger? These seemed to be doing just that. She began to rise from the fetal position she'd slept in. As she placed her hands on the cool metal and prepared to hoist herself up, she heard a peculiar grating sound beneath her. She looked down and gave an inaudible gasp as she realized that her fingernails had transformed into three-inch curved claws. _**Oh my God. What's happening to me?**_ She could only think it to herself. She had been deprived of water for so long and had screamed so much that she had lost her voice.

To her horror, she realized that she could hear and smell the blood pumping through the guards' veins above...and it made her thirsty. _**Thirsty? This can't be happening to me. **_She'd never heard of anything like this happening before. And yet, she'd never heard of anyone surviving a hell hound attack either. It was only by sheer will power that she had survived three days without food or water. She had always been a strong person, but never this strong. _**She felt great! Powerful even…**_ The cut on her back had healed with only a trace of a scar remaining where the gaping wound had been only days before. She looked up and saw that the same hell hound that had scratched her was now inches away from her cage, staring at her. She stared right back, getting as close as she dared to his face. And for the first time in her life, she no longer felt fear when looking into the eyes of a hell hound… In its place she felt…pity. It wasn't fair how the guards had treated these poor creatures. Almost as if reading her mind, the hound looked up towards the guardsmen and snarled contemptuously. _**Had he read her mind? Could she read his? Yes, she could. And he had only one thing on his mind…killing the guards who had trapped him and his pack in the pit. A pack that she was now considered a part of. She was one of them…**_

She and the hell hound both nodded in agreement of the silent plan they had just concocted in their minds. Isis wrapped her clawed hands around the bars of her tiny prison and began to pull them apart. She couldn't believe it! She had actually bent the solid steel bars of her cage back just enough for her to wriggle through! She quietly grabbed the metal chain the guards had used to lower her cage into the pit and began to climb up it. She knew by their slow, steady heartbeats that they were asleep… and this time… they were never going to wake up. She quietly snapped each of their necks and pulled the lever that would lift the hell hound pit up to ground level.

When the hell hounds reached the top, they looked at the bodies and back to her. Listening to their thoughts she realized, _**they're asking me for permission**_. She was suddenly overwhelmed by the collective hunger of the pack around her and looked at the bodies herself. She could stand it no longer. She took one guard for herself and mentally ordered her pack to eat the other two. Violent tremors rocked her body as she transformed into an enormous hell hound, at least two times the size of the others. Nearly 7 feet tall, taller than most men. She snarled a warning at anyone who would dare try to take her prize from her. When she had finished feeding, she howled in glorious anticipation of what they were about to do…


	4. Animal Magnetism

Author's Note: Alright guys, here is the long awaited Chapter 4! Yay! I would like to thank everybody that has taken the time to read this far! LOL And I would like to give a very special thanks to those that have added me to their favorites (such an honor) and to their story alerts. I really need some more reviews guys. I honestly want to know what you guys think so that I can improve my story as I go. Thank you so much for your time!

XOXOXO,

Smurf N Turf

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 4: Animal Magnetism

Meanwhile….

Riddick had been watching the woman that had her foot caught in a cargo net. She lifted her head and looked around. Her eyes were glazed over. She shook her head trying to clear her mind. He caught a glimpse of her face for the first time. She was young, probably in her mid twenties. Her eyes were a soft hazel and yet there was nothing soft about them. Those eyes, he thought, had seen their fair share of suffering and death. Her chestnut hair fell just past her shoulders. Not too long, not to short. She was pretty but nothing spectacular. But she had a presence about her that he had never sensed in a woman before. And then there was here scent…Strong but feminine…Her sweet smell rolled over his body in waves. He inhaled it deeply, smiling in approval. She smelled amazing. He wondered if she smelled that good up close. He watched in silence as she tried to get back on her feet. He heard her bones cracking just before she screamed and fell back down. Just then, he caught a glimpse of her eyes again. But, this time they were glowing with a distinct silver glint he recognized all too well. _**Interesting**_, he thought. Her scent got stronger. It was intoxicating. He watched as she lay there, trying to regain her strength. He saw her wheels turning as a grin spread across her face. She let out a low chuckle and then a small gasp before passing out again. He wished he knew what she had been thinking about. Just then Johns began to stir. Riddick quickly busted his way out of his cryo-cell and hoisted himself up onto one of the ship's rafters, waiting for Johns to wake up. He smirked in anticipation of what he was about to do…

Isis opened her hazel eyes just in time to see Riddick swinging above Johns, getting his shackled feet over Johns' neck and using it as a choke collar. Mr. Johns flicked out his baton and began beating the hell out of Riddick who didn't give an inch. She let her eyes roam over his body. His muscled arms flexing as he continued to strangle Johns from above. Her eyes carved a path over his arms and down to his stone-hard abdomen. She felt a wave of lust wash over her. It'd been a long time since she'd been with a man and this one was extremely attractive. But, there was also an air of arrogance about him that put her off. She had seen the work of arrogant men first hand. Seconds from blacking out, Johns lifted forward…forward…and finally broke Riddick's grip on the support beam. He kept hold of Riddick's feet so that he would slam head-first onto the deck. John placed his baton on Riddick's neck. "One chance and you blew it, Riddick. You never cease to disappoint me," he remarked. She watched quietly as Johns chained Riddick to a pole with his arms cuffed behind his back. She knew she needed to bolt before Johns remembered her, but she couldn't move. Most of her ribs had begun to heal but she hadn't had the strength to get her broken leg out of the cargo net. She had no choice but to lay there and wait until she was strong enough to get up. She didn't even want to think about how painful that would be.

Johns still didn't seem to notice her lying there. She was, after all, lying very still. He seemed to be searching for something. She thought he might be looking for her. He rounded the corner and disappeared. This was her chance. She knew that she would have to snap that leg back into place, before it began healing in the wrong position. She braced herself and spun herself onto her back as quickly as possible. She heard a loud snap and felt a surge of agony course throughout her entire body. The pain was too much for her and she could do nothing but fall on her back, panting. She didn't even have the strength to scream this time.

"Do you need help?" A small voice whispered from a few feet to her left. Isis opened her eyes and saw what appeared to be a small boy looking down on her with big, sympathetic eyes. But her sense of smell told her otherwise, this child was definitely a female. She was dressed in boyish clothes and had a masculine haircut. Apparently, she felt a need to present herself as a boy. Isis wasn't sure why she would do this, but she was too distracted by her pain to care at the moment. She'd never been one to ask for help but there was something in this girl's eyes that made her believe she could trust her. And deep down, she had always wanted a little sister. She was in too much pain to answer so she just nodded. The little "boy" nodded back and began to gingerly unravel the net that engulfed her injured leg. It hurt like hell but she was touched by the tender patience of the child as she carefully unwound the sea of cargo net Isis was trapped in.

"Name's Jack," she said with a grin. "Isis," she replied with a weak smile. The girl finished just as Johns entered the room with his gun trained on Isis. **_So that's what he was looking for_**, she thought. "I wouldn't get too close to that one. She's dangerous," he said as he scowled down at them. Somehow Isis managed to flip him off. The girl giggled. "Beat it kid," Johns growled at Jack through clenched teeth. The girl did as she was told with astounding speed for such a small child. "Cute Hale, real cute," Johns whispered as he yanked her to her feet. She cried out as he forced her to put weight on her broken leg. She unleashed an inhuman snarl at him as he lifted her arms and cuffed her hands to the rafter above, just across from where Riddick was chained up. He backed away for just a second. She could smell his fear and she snickered at him in satisfaction which caused her immense pain. She ignored it as she glared at Johns with as much hatred as she could muster. He raised his baton but thought twice about hitting her when he caught a glimpse of her silver eyes that seemed to look straight into his soul. He thought better of it and decided to chain her feet to the ground instead. _**No need to piss her off further**_. In some ways, she scared him more than Riddick did-a fact that he would never admit out loud of course.


	5. Revenge

_**Author's Note: Thank you guys so much for all of the helpful reviews! There's some fairly strong language and violence in this chapter, so I figured I'd give you guys a heads -up. As always, I encourage you to write reviews because they have been very helpful thus far.**_

_**Thanks,**_

_**Smurf N Turf**_

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 5: Revenge

Isis stayed awake just long enough to glare a hole into the back of Johns' head. As he disappeared from sight and her adrenaline rush abated, the full force of the painful position he'd cuffed her in overwhelmed her senses and she blacked out again.

Flashback:

She was back with her pack, howling like a demon straight out of hell. Her hunger and rage were insatiable but she still had enough sense to ring the warning bell with her long, prehensile tail. The prisoners knew that meant it was feeding time and would scurry into their respective cages. This would clear a path for her and her pack when they made their charge. _**This will also minimize innocent casualties**_, her human side offered. The demon side pushed her human side down, reveling in the violence that was about to rock "the most secure prison in the universe." Screw the human side, she was hungry and furious at the way she'd been treated by the guards. All that mattered to _her_ at the moment was revenge. She led her pack down into the shit-hole prison called Crematoria. She growled orders at the pack causing it to split into two groups. Group one would follow her and together they would take down the armed guards. The other, smaller group would take down the unarmed guards and anyone else who might be unlucky enough to cross their path. She let loose another unholy howl that chilled the bones of the guards that had been alerted by the bell. _**Let them come**_, she thought, as she and her pack collided head-on with the first drove of guards.

The guards opened fire on the hell hounds. Most of the demons' bodies were covered in armor much like an armadillos' in appearance, causing a majority of the bullets to bounce off their bodies. Only a lucky shot to a hell hound's vulnerable belly could take them down. She heard a Spanish man yell out, "Mi Dios," as one of her pack members leapt at him. He opened fire and hit the demon right in the stomach. _**Damn**_, she thought. _**We're going to have to be more careful. **_She turned her attention onto the man. Before he could spit out another plea up to The Almighty, his throat and jugular vein exploded as Isis ran him through with her spear-like tail. _**Vaya con Dios, asshole, **_she thought sadistically. The smell of blood and shit filled the air causing her pack to go into a feeding frenzy. It took all of her will power to keep from joining them. She gave them a chastising growl that reluctantly brought them to their senses. They still had work to do…

Both teams tore through countless guards, slowly but surely making their way towards the top floor of Crematoria. The air was thick with blood and screams of anguish coming from the guards, and occasionally, from a downed hell hound. The keepers and mercenaries above the prison looked upon the massacre through the circular hole in the deck, used to lower captives into the prison by chains. No one had ever seen a pack of hell hounds work in such an organized manner. They were absolutely horrified, except for the head manager of Crematoria. He watched with nothing more than amusement. It didn't matter how much damage the hell hounds caused down below, because he knew that they could never reach the top level of Crematoria. The only way up would be to climb the chain, and he had already stationed two armed mercenaries above it so that they could mow down anyone who tried to get out. He lit a cheap cigar and continued to watch the blood bath with smug satisfaction.

Isis led her remaining troops straight up towards the opening in the top level. The plan was simple….She would climb up the rope and kill everyone above. Meanwhile, the pack would guard below, making sure no one sneaked up on her. Once everyone up there was dead, she would lower the top level so that she and her companions could escape. She had already caught the scent of the two mercenaries above. So, she instructed the pack to gather beneath the chain and act as a diversion for the guards. If the guards decided to open fire, their bullets would just bounce right off the top of her clan. While they have their attention on the pack, she would take them down herself. The hell hounds gathered beneath the chains just as planned and began to howl. She leapt onto a shadowed ledge just behind the dangling chain and transformed back into her human form with effortless ease. She grabbed two guns off the nearest dead bodies, holstering one of them in the back of her pants. The voices of her demons filled the air. The guards began to fidget uncomfortably. Then one began to scream at them. "Shut the f*ck up, or I swear to God, I'll fill you full of lead," one screamed. The other covered his ears with his hands. Isis leapt out onto the chain. The ledge she had been hiding on was high enough that she was already half way up the chain. She grabbed hold of the chain with her right hand and opened fire with the pistol in her left. She shot a well-placed bullet straight into the skull of the "merc" covering his ears. He never knew what hit him. The other raised his gun, but was too slow. She quickly fired off two shots into his heart. She didn't believe in wasting ammo and had enough skill to back that philosophy. Before any of the others could react, she was up the chain and staring down at some fat bastard who was smoking a cheap-ass cigar. It fell right out of his chubby lips the moment he realized she was standing right in front of him. She put it out with her foot. He tried to pull out his gun but was one second too late. They all were…

The pack watched from below with curiosity as the top level erupted into to a fantastic display of flashing light, gunfire, terrified screams, and freshly spilled blood. A few minutes later, the screaming subsided and silence filled the prison. Isis walked towards the button that would lower the top level down to her pack. But just as she was about to push it, she heard a clicking noise behind her. At first, she was sure that it was a gun being cocked, but when she turned around, she saw the fat man pushing a button of his own. "No one f*cks with my prison," he gargled. Just then, his heart gave out and he died. She also heard a terrible hissing sound coming from below. She ran to the hole just in time to see a sickly green gas filling the prison. The hell hounds began to cough violently…and then she heard the screams…_**Oh my God, the prisoners**_, she thought. She ran over to the button the fat man had pushed and tried pushing it again. Nothing….She began to frantically push other buttons, trying to find one that would stop the gas from killing her clan. She hit a big red button and the hole behind her closed. "NO!" She cried out, running towards the hole. It closed just before she could reach it. She ran back to the board and began to push more buttons. "No, no, no." She flipped a switch and a surveillance monitor popped up. She watched as one by one, her precious pack members began to fall to the ground, gasping for air. She cried and screamed as she watched them all dying. She had never felt so helpless in her entire life, except maybe when her father had been killed before her very eyes. This was like watching him die all over again. She caught a glimpse of her sire, the hell hound that had changed her. He was staring straight at her or through the monitor at least. He seemed to look straight into her soul as he gave her his parting thought: _**Don't be sad, child with the silver eyes. Because of you, we have been set free.**_ Then, he died.


	6. Grave Circumstances

_**Author's Note:**_ _Hello, hello everybody! Sorry it took so long to get this next chapter online. My job has been keeping me very busy lately. I decided to write this chapter from three points of view: Isis, Riddick, and Jack. I've written their names before each paragraph so you know who the speaker is. Thanks so much for all of the great reviews! They have really helped me stay focused and improve my story. Please feel free to write me some new reviews for this chapter and thanks for reading my story!_

_Smurf N Turf :D_

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 6: Grave Circumstances

* * *

Riddick:

Riddick watched as Isis screamed, tears streaming down her face. Her skin was actually glowing a faint shade of red. _**This girl is seriously messed up**_, he thought. Her eyes flew open, almost as if she'd heard his thoughts. Her silver eyes locked on his, which were still hidden behind a black piece of fabric. She wasn't looking at him, though. Her eyes were distant and full of pain. A growl resonated deep within her throat as Isis' senses returned to her. She snapped the cuffs on her wrists in half like a toothpick and dropped to one knee.

Her expression turned from sorrow to rage as she zeroed in on Johns who was talking with the captain outside. Her silver eyes glowed brightly and tremors rocked the full length of her muscular body. Riddick watched her unconsciously rip the restraints off of her feet and slink soundlessly towards Johns and the captain. She padded across the floor with the grace of a cat and the ferocity of a lion. She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He sucked in her sweet scent through his nostrils. She was still very close to him. He had to fight back the urge to touch her, knowing it would likely be the last thing he ever did.

* * *

Isis:

Isis crept up within a few yards of where Johns was talking with the captain. She was going to snap the captain's neck first and then she would rip Johns apart, piece by piece. She would make him pay for making her relive her memories. He would never hurt her again… When the others came, she would blame it on the murderer Riddick and kill him too. She would look like a hero in the others' eyes. They would never have to know what she had done.

Isis heard a small gasp come from somewhere off to her left. She whirred around to face the intruder. She locked her depthless eyes onto Jack. The smell of her fear overwhelmed Isis' senses, shocking her out of predator mode. _**Was she really about to kill an innocent woman just to get to Johns?**_ Shame flushed Isis' face, softening her eyes back to their normal hazel color. Jack's expression went from terror to confusion as Isis relaxed her posture and her rose-red skin returned to its natural pallor.

She looked down at her feet, unable to gaze into the convicting eyes of the little girl who stood before her, who reminded Isis so much of her old self. She looked one last time at Johns and the captain, still unaware of her presence. She turned and began to walk away. As she walked by Riddick, she felt another wave of guilt, realizing that she had planned to pin the whole thing on him.

Despite the fact that he was a murderer, he had done nothing to her. She walked over to where Johns had hung Riddick's goggles and dropped them at his feet. "The pole above you is broken," she whispered without looking at him. Then, she walked out into the brutal sunlight. She was so damn thirsty. She had to find something to eat on this planet before she lost control of the beast entirely and turned the passengers into her next meal. She dropped what was left of her restraints towards sunrise and began walking in the opposite direction, towards sunset. When the sun went down, she would hunt…

* * *

Jack:

Jack watched as the sunlight hit Isis' chestnut hair. Her whole form had lost its once proud posture. Her body was physically slumped from the guilt and misery that had overtaken her. Jack had been terrified of the mysterious woman just moments before, but now, she felt sorry for her. It was obvious that she wasn't quite human. Her gripping silver eyes, her skin that glowed red when she was angry, and the long curved claws that had protruded out of her fingers when she was stalking Johns and the captain, were all evidence that she was more than what she seemed. But, she had let Jack go unharmed and helped Riddick find a way of escaping Johns. _**That has to count for something**_, Jack's young mind reasoned.

She heard Riddick stand up. She watched in disbelief as he brought his cuffed arms up to his shoulders. She winced when she heard his shoulders pop out of socket. He stretched up onto his toes and raised his arms over the break in the pole. His shoulders popped loudly back into place, making Jack feel like she needed to hurl. He put his goggles on, looked right at her with a devious smirk on his face, and headed out in the same direction that Isis went. _**Holy shit, that was awesome**_, she thought.

* * *

Riddick:

If it weren't for her scent, Isis would have been incredibly tough to track. Her footfalls were silent and so light that she barely left any footprints behind, even in the sand that covered this desolate planet. But, her scent was thick and sweet as ever, beckoning for Riddick to keep following her. Judging from her little performance back at the ship, he reckoned that she already knew he was following her, yet she hadn't tried to lose him. It was odd to have someone who didn't show the slightest bit of fear when they were around him; especially when that someone was a woman.

Normally, he would find that offensive, but she was definitely no ordinary woman. She fascinated him. The pull she had on him was unnaturally strong. He knew that he would follow her to the ends of the earth to discover her secrets. This thought startled him. He had always been a loner, looking out for himself and no one else. Yet, she seemed to intensify his secret desire for human companionship, a need that he had buried deep within himself for years. But the truth is even monsters get lonely…

* * *

Isis:

Isis felt his presence only minutes after she had told him how to escape. _**Impressive**_, she thought. Perhaps she had underestimated this man called Riddick. She wasn't interested in losing him. He intrigued her on a primal level. She had never met a human who had such a presence about him. She wanted to know everything, all of his secrets. And she wasn't entirely sure what length she would go to discover them. This idea was unsettling. She didn't let others get too close to her. They usually ended up getting hurt or worse. She had so many conflicting emotions going on inside her and his presence only seemed to intensify them. She decided it was best to leave such thoughts alone, for now…

She continued to travel west. She wanted to get to high ground before the sun went down. She would get her bearings and then decide what to do next. She saw what looked like trees in the distance. _**Trees mean water.**_ But if there was water, she would have smelled it by now. _**So if they're not trees, what are they?**_ When she approached the "trees," she gasped. _**What the…**_ These weren't trees at all. They were bones, carcasses of thousands of animals the size of large buildings littered the ground. They were massive. She had never seen anything like it in her entire life. It made her feel very uneasy…


	7. Just out of Reach

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 7: Just out of Reach

She was gripped with dread as she scanned the sky line with her eyes. _**Three suns?**_ _**So much for hunting at nightfall**_, she thought bitterly. Isis sighed in frustration. She had to feed soon or every single life on this planet-which seemed to only be that of the passengers-was going to be in grave danger. She knew all too well the damage she could cause if she didn't sate the beast within. "Ain't exactly what you'd call paradise is it?" Isis jumped.

She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even heard him approach. Another sign of how weak she was becoming. It was the first time she'd heard Riddick speak. His voice was deep and raspy. He was standing only a few feet behind her. The fact that he had been able to sneak up on her like that irritated her. "Not exactly," she heard herself say. Even her voice sounded weak. She heard the echo of voices coming from behind them. She turned and walked past Riddick, acting as if he wasn't even there.

She sniffed the air, attempting to pin point their position. She leapt onto the spine of another creature with effortless ease, despite that they were about 10 feet apart from each other. Riddick chuckled in approval just before jumping across and landing right beside her. She didn't seem to notice, she was so focused on the group of passengers that were headed their way. She sniffed the air again and Riddick realized that she was searching for someone specific, _**probably Johns**_, he wagered.

She could feel Riddick's eyes move over her body as she searched for Johns. She just continued ignoring him until she caught sight of Johns. He had his eyes peeled and gun raised high. He looked like he might piss his pants at any given moment. Her eyes began to glow as she chuckled at Johns' present state. Riddick looked at her quizzically. Quick as lighting, she dropped below their perch and disappeared into the shadows.

_**Damn she's quick**_, he thought. He jumped between the ribs of the great beast and looked for Isis. He couldn't see her at first but he could smell her. He looked above him and saw that she was hiding in shadowy corner. If he hadn't been able to smell her, he would have never known she was there. She was so quiet. There was no perceivable emotion in her silver eyes as she stared back at him. He wanted to know what she was thinking so badly. He heard the footfalls of the approaching passengers and quickly disappeared into a shadowy corner of his own.

Johns headed up the group, pistol ready. He was followed closely by the self-appointed captain, Caroline Fry. She looked just as nervous as Johns did. Behind Fry was Jack, who didn't seem to be anxious at all. Paris, the antiquities dealer, was following Jack so closely that she turned around and shoved him when he ran into her. "Ss-so sorry," he whimpered. Isis grinned affectionately at Jack. She was becoming very fond of this child. Paris jumped at any and every sound that fell upon his ears. Isis almost felt sorry for the little weasel. He was followed by Shazza and her lover Zeke. Zeke also had a gun. He looked more wary than afraid. If Zeke saw her, he'd fire. She was sure of that.

Bringing up the rear was the holy man, Imam, with his three sons. They were throwing stones against the pillars of sand. Fry turned and raised her brow at Imam. "To keep the devil at bay," he explained. Both Isis and Riddick smirked at this. Isis wondered which devil they were talking about. Riddick was sure they were talking about him. Johns turned on Imam and his sons. "Shut up and tell them to stop that shit. I need to be able to hear," he growled.

Isis had to suppress a snarl. Every passenger fell silent as Johns led them into the skeleton that Isis and Riddick were hiding in. Isis held her breath and fought to control the beast within her, as Johns drew near. _**So close**_, she felt the beast say. _**Not yet**_, she thought. _**Not yet**_. Riddick could smell Isis' anger and frustration. She hated Johns even more than he did. He wondered what Johns had done to her to warrant such hate. Johns scanned his surroundings with both his eyes and his gun. Isis readied herself. If he saw her, she would kill him before he would get a chance to react. She didn't want to kill him so quickly. Her animal side wanted to take its time and savor his blood. But, she would have to be quick to kill him and get the hell out of there before Zeke opened fire on her too.

But her plan turned out to be unnecessary. Johns and his posse went right passed Isis and Riddick. Isis dropped down from her perch. She pressed her back against a large rib bone and slid along the wall, watching them until they disappeared from sight. She heard Riddick drop behind her. She turned just as he placed both of his muscular arms on either side of her head. He leaned towards her until his face was only centimeters away from hers. "How the hell did Johns manage to get his filthy "merc" hands on a woman like you?" he whispered. His hot breathe clouded her senses. Isis felt her heart rate double within seconds. She was confused and frightened by her body's immediate response to being so close to him.

He ran his lips over her high cheek bones and her body shivered with anticipation. Her human side was appalled at both his boldness and the way his closeness clouded her good judgment. Her animal side wanted to throw him to the ground and have her way with him right now. He buried his face in her hair and inhaled her scent. This time it was Riddick's turn to shiver. So, he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Isis fought to control the beast within. While he had his face in her hair, she managed to reach into a hidden pocket in her pants and produce a sharp sickle-shaped blade.

She forcefully placed her blade on his nether regions. She heard him chuckle as he pulled back and took a look at the blade she was now tapping on his groin. She gave him a devious smirk. He smirked back at her. He could smell how much she wanted him. He saw her unconsciously inhale his scent, obviously being able to smell his desire for her as well. _**Take him now**_, the beast within screamed. _**He's too dangerous**_, her human side argued. _**Shit**_. A few more seconds and she would lose control completely, but she was saved by the sound of the captain and Johns approaching.

Riddick never took his eyes off of hers as he reluctantly moved into the shadows. She hid just as Fry and Johns appeared on the other side of the monster's rib cage. She was relieved and pissed at the same time that had been interrupted. She had never been more confused in her life. What the hell was she going to do the next time they were alone? And if Riddick was as taken with her as she was with him, he would surely try again. This encounter had taken away the last of her will power and strength… She was shaken back to reality when Johns came into view. _**So close**_, she thought. _**So close**_. Last time the beast had spoken those words in her mind, it was talking about Johns. This time, she wasn't sure if it was talking about Johns or Riddick…


	8. Stormy Horizon

Author's Note: Ok guys. Most of you are probably going to be really aggravated with this chapter because it is the calm before the storm so to speak. I'm already working on the next chapter, I promise! LOL I'm just setting up the mood in this chapter, but I promise the next one will be more interesting. Thanks to everybody that has kept up with my story. You guys are some of the coolest people I've ever talked to online! Thanks again :D

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 8: Stormy Horizon

Johns and Fry walked towards the skeleton that Isis and Riddick were hiding in. Zeke followed close behind them. Johns turned and faced the other two. "Here's the deal. There's a lot of places for Riddick and Isis to hide in here, putting every one of you in danger." Caroline and Zeke listened in silence. "We have no way of knowing whether they are working together or not. Having Riddick around is bad news, but put both of them together and we don't stand a chance. We need to find a way to separate them. So, I think the best thing for us to do is split up."

"Me, Fry, Imam, and his boys will continue to look for water." He pointed at Zeke. "You and Shazza will lead the rest of the group back to the crash and guard it while we're gone." He handed Zeke a pistol. "Fully-loaded clip. Safety's on. One shot if you spot either one of them, okay?" Zeke nodded. "What happens if they spot us first?" Zeke asked. "There'll be no shots," Johns chuckled. Zeke's face paled. "Bloody hell." He walked away and began to gather the others.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to split up like this?" Fry questioned. Johns took a ragged breath. "Riddick and Isis are survivors. Therefore, the first thing they'll do is eliminate their biggest threat." He held up his pistol. "In our group, that's me. In their group, that's Zeke. They'll have to split up to cover us both. Not that I would put it past either of them to prey on innocents, but it seems unlikely. That's why I gave Zeke the gun, just in case." Fry didn't feel convinced but she figured that a cop would know more about these things than she would. She leaned her back against the bones behind her.

Johns held out a bottle of whiskey. "Drink?" Fry hesitated but decided to take the bottle. "Probably shouldn't do this. Dehydrates you even more." Johns chuckled, "You're probably right." Johns studied Fry and saw the fear behind her eyes. "You could have stayed at the ship," he said. "Probably should've, but I wanted to get away," she replied. Johns stared Fry down. "I've never seen a captain so ready to leave her ship," he said suspiciously.

Isis listened carefully to their conversation. She knew that something had been bothering the captain the moment she had laid eyes on her. What she had seen in Fry's face was the very same thing that was haunting Isis…guilt. She felt Riddick's attention sharpen as well. It seemed that everyone had been thinking the same thing, but no one had been bold enough to ask. _**Leave it to Johns to be the one asshole who would ask, **_she thought.

Fry shifted uncomfortably. " I think we should keep moving…" Johns was undeterred. "What did Owens mean," Johns Interrupted…."about touching the handle?" Isis could sense Fry's guilt and frustration overtaking her. Fry cast her eyes on the ground. "This is between you and me Carolyn, I promise," Johns vowed. Fry sighed with exasperation. "I'm not your captain. During the landing when….things were at their worst, Owens was at his best. He stopped the docking pilot from dumping the main cabin full of passengers." Johns gave Fry a knowing look. "And the docking pilot being?" He asked. Fry just stared back at him. Johns chuckled and placed his police cap on Fry's head. "I guess I'm a little more glad to be here than I thought," he said. Fry gave him a weak smile and they walked away.

Isis felt a swell of pity for Fry. She knew the price one must sometimes pay for self preservation all too well. She heard Riddick stir and leapt from her hiding place before he could do a repeat of history. She crept up on Zeke's party just as they were preparing to head back to the crash site. "So it's decided then," Imam said in his broken accent. "Our half will continue onward in search of water and your half will head back to bury the dead and begin repairing the ship." Zeke nodded and began to lead the others back towards the landing site.

Isis' heart skipped a beat when she had heard those three precious words, "bury the dead." She wasn't partial to feeding on corpses, but it was the only foreseeable way for her to regain her strength and control without harming the others. She hated the idea of leaving Johns unsupervised, but she had to do what was necessary to survive and still maintain whatever small shred of humanity she had left.

She turned and began her trek back to the landing site. Riddick fell in step right behind her. "Had the pilot pegged all wrong. Never thought she'd have it in her to do us all like that," he mused in that deep sexy voice of his. A voice that was driving her beast to the point of madness, it wanted him so badly. He moved up on Isis' right side so that he was now walking beside her. She just kept her eyes forward and continued walking. She felt Riddick's eyes move over her body once more. They eventually made it up to her face. "Strong survival instinct…I admire that in a woman."

He was testing her, she knew. But she just kept walking_**. Just keep going, Isis. A little while longer and you'll be well fed and completely in control of the monster.**_ In the deepest part of her heart Isis knew that her feelings for Riddick weren't something a simple meal and rest could remedy. She shook the thought from her mind immediately. She had to believe that her human side stood a chance against her animal side. She could feel her beast creeping closer and closer to the surface, threatening to blot her old self out entirely. She was running out of time and she knew it….

Riddick continued to walk beside her in silence for the rest of their trip. He could sense the conflicting personalities vying for control of Isis' mind. He could smell how much the beast within her wanted him. He knew she was holding back and he wanted so badly to witness her in all of her horrific glory. To see her for what she truly is. He formulated a plan to stimulate her darker side. Give her a little push, so to speak. He would kill the fighter of the group, Zeke. And in so doing, he would kill two birds with one stone by removing a threat and pushing Isis' control to the limits. She would surely smell his blood and come running. He would be there watching and waiting…


	9. Salvation

Author's Note: Hey guys! I have officially hit the 1000 readers mark today and I can't believe it. I had no idea that this story would take off the way it did and I'm very grateful for each and every one of you. I've got a case of the writing bug, so today, you guys get two chapter updates! Yay! This chapter is a little longer than the others but I felt it was necessary. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Thanks again for your support,

Smurf N Turf :D

* * *

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 9: Salvation

Zeke's group split up after arriving back at the ship. Zeke gathered up the bodies so that he could begin digging graves. The ship had been broken into two large pieces when it crashed. So, Shazza and Jack began repairs on one half of the ship. While Paris, set up a makeshift mini bar for himself on his half of the ship. He placed a chair on top of it, attaching an umbrella to it so he could sit in the shade and drink various assortments of alcoholic beverages, "spirits," he called them. Zeke looked up at Paris in disgust. "You comfy up there?" Zeke ground out. Paris grinned.

"You can do without the necessities provided you have the little luxuries," Paris answered smugly. "Just keep your bloody eyes open. I don't want that dog sneaking up on my bloody ass," Zeke said. Paris leaned back in his chair. "Yes, well, you dig the graves. I'll hold the fort, old boy." Zeke huffed and continued to lug the bodies towards the grave site. Isis followed Zeke while Riddick headed in the opposite direction towards the ship and the passengers. She didn't like the idea of leaving them alone with him but she was too hungry to care. All she could think about was feeding.

She crept behind a rock pillar to watch Zeke. His back was turned so he couldn't see her there. He still sensed her presence after a few minutes and looked back in her direction. She hid as he pulled out his weapon. Just then, they both heard a sound that was similar to thunder. It was distinctly different though. It sounded almost metallic. Zeke marched past Isis' hiding place, towards the source of the sound. "Riddick," Isis groaned. _**What the hell was he up to now? **_She decided to follow Zeke and see if Riddick had killed anyone. But not for the reason you'd think. She just liked the idea of a fresher body...

Riddick had noticed a man other than the little group he was familiar with wandering aimlessly around the ship. He decided it would be fun to bang on the sides of the ship and see how the passengers reacted to this new guy. The man was so distraught that he didn't seem to notice the loud sound the metal made when Riddick beat against it. He just kept walking towards the entrance of the ship. Paris heard the noise and went inside the half that Shazza and Jack were working on to warn them.

Once he had hit the metal a couple of times, Riddick climbed on top of the ship, sat down in Paris' chair, and took a swig of his whiskey. He had the best seat in the house to watch what happened next. Shazza grabbed one of Paris' ancient weapons and waited to attack the intruder. The lost man continued towards the opening the passengers were hiding behind. Shazza leapt out with her weapon but stopped short when Jack yelled, "No!" The man backed away. "Oh my God, I thought I was the only one who got out of the crash," he said.

Blood erupted from his chest and neck and splattered all over Shazza's face. His body fell to the ground to reveal Zeke standing behind him with a smoking pistol. "It was just somebody else! It was just somebody else from the crash!" Jack exclaimed. Zeke grimaced and leaned down to inspect the body. "Crikey. I thought it was him. I thought it was Riddick." Riddick smirked and took another sip of whiskey.

On the other side of the desert, Johns' group had stumbled upon an abandoned settlement. Imam and his boys had discovered on old water well and were trying to fix it. Fry went inside one of the buildings and discovered a model of this planet and its suns. It seemed that this particular planet never experienced darkness because of the orbit of its three suns. If Fry had pushed the model forward a couple years, she would have discovered that this was not the case. But, she lost interest and walked back out of the building. Something shimmered in the sunshine.

She walked towards it and then began to run as she finally figured out what it was. "Whoo hoo! Hello Mecca!" she exclaimed. Johns and Imam heard her and went to see what she was so excited about. It turned out that Fry had discovered a very small ship called a skiff. She climbed inside the ship to inspect it further. Johns followed. Carolyn looked for a source of power and came up empty handed. "No juice. Looks like it's been laid up for years. But we might be able to adapt it to…" she was cut off. "Shutup," Johns yelled. Fry paused indignantly. Johns listened carefully. "Sorry. Thought I heard something," he explained. "Like what?" Fry asked. "Like gunshots," he said.

Isis had heard the shots and come running but she was stopped in her tracks by a smell that sent her beast into a frenzy….blood. Her eyes immediately returned to depthless silver. Her retractable claws lengthened to their full three-inch curl. Her body turned red and began to shake. She turned towards her salvation and began walking. Her human side fought for control but it was useless. Her legs just kept carrying her towards the ship…towards the blood. Riddick smelled her immediately. Her scent was even stronger than when she was only standing a few feet from him. He knew his plan had worked. He hopped off his perch and headed in her direction.

Isis hid behind a stone pillar. She heard his footsteps as he approached. She let Zeke pass right by her so that she could sneak up behind him. Riddick was behind a pillar on the opposite side from where Isis was hiding. She waited for Zeke to begin digging again and stepped out of her hiding place. She soundlessly crept up behind him. He had no idea she was even there. She dropped into a crouching position ready to strike. Riddick watched her intently. Suddenly, she caught the scent of the blue-eyed devil. This caused even the beast to pause.

If she was shot, she would survive. But, she was so weak that it could take a very long time to heal again. She would have no way of defending herself from Johns in that kind of state. The beast calculated its best course of action. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something scurrying beneath the surface…something BIG. Riddick was watching her intently. _**Why did she stop?**_ Suddenly, he heard the same thing Isis had heard. Something was under the ground. Zeke heard it too. He cocked his head and noticed a little burrow next to where he was digging the graves.

He got on his knees and began digging out sand that blocked the entrance. Something grabbed him and began dragging him into the hole. He struggled and tried to fight his way back to the surface. Isis and Riddick watched in pure fascination. Zeke looked Isis in the eyes just before he was dragged under. The hole was covered in Zeke's blood. Isis remained in a crouching position just in front of the hole. Riddick came out of his hiding place and hopped above the hole trying to look in and see what had dragged Zeke in.

Isis' beast wanted his blood so badly, but switched into survival mode instead. She began to run in the opposite direction of Johns' scent. She could smell the others approaching on either side of her. She ran faster than any human could run… Away from Johns, away from Riddick, away from herself. Riddick began to run a little too late. He ended up running right into the butt of Johns' gun. Johns hit him two or three times and removed his goggles. Riddick cringed in agony and tried to cover his eyes with his hands. Shazza ran up to him. "What did you do to Zeke?" she shrieked. "What did you do to him?" She kicked Riddick in the face. Someone ran up behind her and tried to pull her off of him. "Just kill him. Just somebody goddamn kill him before he…" Riddick never heard the rest of her sentence because Johns knocked him out with the butt of his gun.

Isis waited until they were gone. The group had been so intent on chaining Riddick back up and keeping Shazza from killing him, that they had completely forgotten about the body of the passenger Zeke had killed. She crept up to his body cautiously. To her delight, it was still warm. She grabbed the body, threw it over her shoulder, and began to run. She carried it all the way back to the skeleton graveyard. Once she was hidden, she removed her clothes and changed into her beast form for the first time in years. She devoured the dead man's body, bones and all. Her belly bulged beneath her. The beast sighed in contentment. It gently picked up her clothes in its mouth and hopped up onto a shadowy ledge. She fell asleep. And to her relief, she didn't dream…


	10. Monsters

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 10: Monsters

Riddick woke up in chains. He opened his eyes for half a second, and then snapped them shut. Johns had taken his goggles again. Johns and Fry glared down at him. "You're lucky I didn't just shoot you, you sick bastard," Johns ground out. "You got the wrong killer," Riddick calmly stated. "You're a lying piece of shit," Johns growled and hit him with the baton. "He could be telling the truth Johns," Fry said.

Johns turned on her furiously. "He tells people shit to mess with their heads," he said as he poked the side of his temple. That's what he does Carolyn," he bellowed. "There's something down there, something that got Zeke. I heard it," Riddick defended. Johns turned around and hit him again. "Tell us where the body is," he demanded. "I already told you, whatever got Zeke drug him into the hole," Riddick's voice rose in frustration.

Johns went to hit Riddick again, but Fry stopped him. "That's enough Johns. Go find somewhere to cool down." He glared once more at Riddick and stormed out. Riddick smirked back at him. He turned his attention to Fry who was standing a safe distance away from him. "All of you people are so scared of me. Most days I take that as a compliment," he grinned. "But it ain't me you got to worry about anymore." Fry scrutinized Riddick's emotionless face. Part of her believed that he was telling the truth but she wasn't entirely convinced. "Show me your eyes Riddick." Riddick chuckled.

"You'd have to come a lot closer for that," he teased. She took a couple steps towards him and then paused hesitantly. "Closer." She moved a little bit more. Riddick smirked, "Closer." She moved in as close as she dared. Riddick exploded from where he was sitting and thrust his face centimeters from hers, revealing his silver eyes-eyes identical to Isis' beast. Fry slinked back nodding, unable to speak she was so repulsed.

"Where the hell can I get eyes like that?" Jack asked enthusiastically. She had been hiding at the base of a staircase, listening to their conversation. Riddick grinned at her, "Gotta kill a few people." Jack took a step towards him. "Okay, I can do it." Riddick continued, "Then you gotta get sent to a slam where they say you'll never see daylight again."

"You dig up a doctor and you pay him 20 menthol cools to do a surgical shine job on your eyeballs." Jack took another step towards Riddick. "So you can see who's sneaking up on you in the dark?" she asked. Riddick smiled. "Exactly." Fry turned on Jack, "Leave!" she commanded. Jack reluctantly did as she was told. "Cute kid," Riddick grinned and turned his attention back to Fry. "Did I kill a few people? Sure. Did I kill Zeke? No. Like I said, you've got the wrong killer," Riddick concluded. "He's not in the hole. We looked," she said. Riddick looked directly into her eyes. "Look deeper."

Isis woke up from her afternoon nap. She realized that she was in her human form. So, the beast had relinquished its control back over to her….for now. She stood up. She could feel that her super-human strength had returned in full. Her senses were at their sharpest once more and all of her cuts and bruises had healed. She dressed and remembered that the others had caught Riddick. No doubt they would blame him for Zeke's death, maybe even kill him for it. She wouldn't allow this to happen. She would go back and talk to someone, maybe the captain. She knew Johns would never listen, but she felt a connection to Carolyn. She had to try. She ran most of the way as she headed back towards the ship.

She stopped at the bottom of the hill. She could smell the passengers' scent being carried on the wind. She was very close to the site where Zeke had been killed. _**Surely, they aren't stupid enough to go near that hole**_, she thought skeptically. She waited and listened. "Do you really think this is wise?" Imam asked. "He's right Fry. Being ballsy with your life doesn't prove anything," Johns said. "Oh you think I've got something to prove?" Fry retorted. "I don't know. Do you?" Johns asked. Fry just glared at him and attached a rope to her belt. "We need to know what got Zeke," she said and climbed down into the hole. _**No, no, no,**_ Isis thought. _**Going down there is suicide**_. She could already hear the creatures gathering below as they heard Fry being lowered down into the hole. Isis wanted to leap in after her or at least tell them to get her out of there. She couldn't without Johns opening fire on her though. She had to sit in torturous silence and just wait to see what would happen.

A few minutes later, she heard Fry screaming for help further down from the hole she'd been lowered into. Her mind began to panic. She wanted so badly to jump in and help Fry, but her beast held her back knowing that Johns would shoot her if she did. She waited another terrifying moment before she heard the sound of the passengers busting through the catacombs and pulling Fry out. "I heard you Fry. I heard you first," she heard Jack say. Fry was in hysterics. "What's down there? Did you find Zeke?" Shazza asked. "You're alright now, breathe," Johns whispered. "Fuck! That was so fucking stupid! I don't know what's in there...but whatever it is, it got Zeke, and it nearly got m—

She was yanked back hard before she could finish her sentence. "Get it off me!" Fry screamed. The passengers scrambled to grab Fry. "Cut the rope!" Johns screamed. He had his hands full with holding on to Fry. They all did. The creature below gave one big jerk, ripping Fry out of the passengers' grip. It would have dragged Fry down to her death if her back hadn't collided directly with Isis's muscular torso. She didn't even budge against the force of Fry's body. She wrapped her right arm around Fry's body and pulled her knife out with her left hand. "Oh shit," Johns whispered fearfully. "Where the bloody hell did she come from?" Shazza screamed. Johns pointed his pistol at Isis' head. A shot to her thick skull wouldn't be enough to kill her but it would stop her from killing Fry. Quick as lighting, Isis brought down her blade and sliced off the rope that held Carolyn captive.

She released Fry from her grip. Fry stumbled away instinctively, and then looked back at Isis in confusion. Johns placed his finger on the trigger. Isis eyes changed to brilliant silver, her claws slowly grew past her fingertips, and her skin turned the faintest shade of red. She stared him down. "You and I both know what will happen if you pull that trigger Johns." He hesitated. He knew what she was capable of. Knew that she was fast enough to dodge a bullet and kill him before he could react. That's why he had hired a professional sniper to tranquilize her from a distance; because that was the only way he could have managed to capture Isis Hale. She would have killed him if he had tried it on his own. He didn't doubt that. He reluctantly lowered his pistol. Her eyes returned to hazel and her claws retracted a bit, but her body remained alert, ready for the slightest sign of an attack.

Carolyn was still shaken but managed a thank you to Isis. Isis nodded. "You saved her life," Shazza said in disbelief. "See? I told you she wasn't all bad," Jack added emphatically. "One good deed isn't enough to make up for a lifetime of bad ones," Johns growled. Isis glared at him, suppressing a snarl. Imam surprised Isis by putting his hand on her right shoulder. "Maybe not," he said as he looked in her doubting eyes. "But it is a good place to start." Isis was surprised at how easily the passengers had accepted her. _**Maybe they figure that they can use one monster to fight off the others, **_she thought. It made sense in a twisted kind of way.

Johns sniffed and kicked at the ground in frustration. Isis took the opportunity to speak to their little assembly. "As you've probably figured out, Riddick was telling the truth." Johns glared at her. "Don't even think about it Hale, he's-" She interrupted him. "The creatures below us are restless. They know that something is coming, something big. Something that I think will allow them to come onto the surface," she said. "And if that happens, it's going to take every last one of us to fight them off." She paused before looking Johns right in his eyes. "Even Riddick," she finished. "You couldn't possibly know what those monsters are thinking," Johns spat. Isis grinned sadistically at Johns. "Monsters understand other monsters," she said simply.


	11. Truce

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 11: Truce

Johns glared at Isis. He knew she was right and it pissed him off. If he allowed Riddick and Isis to go free they could easily overpower and kill him. But if he refused, Isis might kill him right now while she had the support of the other passengers. _**The bitch is smart. I'll give her that**_, he thought bitterly. But Johns was smart too. He'd let them walk….for now. Then he would figure out a way to take them down later. He sighed in mock defeat and nodded at Isis. Her posture relaxed and her claws retracted back into their fingernail beds. She knew she had won this round.

Johns led the others back to the ship where Riddick was currently chained. He started to walk inside to face Riddick when he felt her presence behind him. He turned around and put his hand out to block her path. "Where do you think you're going?" he growled. Isis paused and they stared each other down. "You wanna walk, you gotta work," he stated matter-of-factly. "Go help the others and try not to get any bright ideas." Isis grinned at Johns for half a second. She chuckled and backed up a few steps. _**Smart bastard**_, she thought maliciously.

He glared at Isis and the rest of the group and cleared his throat. Fry took the hint. "Let's give them some space," Fry said. "We've got work to do." Imam and the others followed her, save for Isis and Jack. Jack had been glued to her side since Isis had saved Fry. She didn't mind…. Johns glared at her. She caught a glimpse of Riddick's goggles dangling from his hands. She had heard Fry describe his eyes to the others. It had been an exact description of her own eyes. She wanted to see them first hand.

She sneered back at Johns and then began walking away. She motioned for Jack to follow. Jack scampered to her side with exaggerated enthusiasm. Johns watched them walk away. His eyes drifted over Isis' long back and down to her tight ass. He felt a wave of lust rush over him as he imagined grabbing it with his hands. Almost as if reading his mind, Isis turned back and glared at him. He let his eyes defiantly linger on her ass before grinning back at her. Her eyes began to glow with anger. He chuckled and began to walk inside.

_**In your dreams pencil dick**_, her beast thought. She chuckled to herself. For once, they agreed on something. Isis followed the group just long enough for him to walk inside. She slowed down a bit and finally stopped. No one seemed to notice except for Jack. She turned and raised a questioning brow at Isis. Isis held a shushing finger over her lips and gave Jack a conspiratorial wink. Jack giggled and continued to walk with the rest of the group, giving Isis the chance to slink away.

She sneaked inside the ship and hid behind some containers. Riddick felt her presence immediately as Johns approached. He kept his eyes on the ground. "Finally found something worse than me, huh?" he smirked. Johns kept his hand on his pistol and his eyes trained on Riddick's face as he spoke. "So here's the deal," he began. "You work without chains, without bit, and without shivs. You do what I say when I say it," Johns commanded. Riddick looked up. "For what?" he interrupted. "The honor of going back to some asshole of a cell? Fuck you," he growled.

Isis strained to see his eyes, but Johns was blocking her view. Johns tilted his head back and sighed in frustration. "The truth is that I'm tired of chasing you," he said in exasperation. Riddick looked at Johns in complete disbelief. "You're saying you'd cut me loose?" he asked incredulously. "I'm thinking you could have died in the crash," Johns said. There was silence between them for a second. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife as both men measured each other. Riddick finally spoke. "My recommendation: Do me. Don't take the chance that I get shiv-happy on your wannabe ass." Johns' eyes burned with anger. "Ghost me mother fucker, it's what I'd do to you," Riddick sneered.

Johns unstrapped his pistol and fired in Riddick's direction. Riddick turned his head. Isis had to restrain herself from reflexively rushing to his aid but her beast didn't smell any blood, so it forced her to stay put. Riddick turned his face towards Johns and dropped his arms. The shot that Johns had fired had simply blown through his restraints, leaving Riddick unharmed. Isis breathed a sigh of relief that only Riddick could hear. It intrigued him but he gave no acknowledgment that he'd heard her.

"I want you to remember this moment. The way it could've gone and didn't," Johns said as he held out Riddick's goggles. Riddick reached for his goggles, then quick as lightning, grabbed Johns' gun instead. He thrust the gun right into Johns' throat. "Take it easy," Johns whispered. "Fuck you!" Riddick screamed and began to squeeze the trigger.

Isis' heart beat like a jack rabbit. She wanted Johns dead too but it would be unwise to kill him right now with the others so close. They could turn on them. Not that they would stand a chance against her or Riddick, but she had no desire to slay innocents, especially in front of Jack. She couldn't stand to see the look of terror on the little girl's face again. She just couldn't.

She stood up from where she was hiding, and for the first time, looked into Riddick's eyes. Eyes that were now identical to hers, eyes that reminded her so much of her sire. For the first time in a long time, neither Isis nor Riddick felt alone. They stared at each other intensely. Both wanting, needing to be close to each other again. Isis simply shook her head. Riddick hesitated and then lowered his weapon ever so lightly. Streams of sweat were pouring down Johns' face. "Do we have a deal?" he asked in a shaky voice.

Their conversation had been so subtle that Johns hadn't even noticed that Riddick was looking past him. He looked Johns directly in the eyes and raised his weapon once more, "I want you to remember this moment," he said. Isis nodded at him and soundlessly walked outside. He longingly watched her go and couldn't resist the urge to follow her. He dropped the gun, snatched the goggles out of Johns' hands, and put them on. Her sweet scent called to him like a siren's song. Johns stared in bewilderment as Riddick sniffed the air, sighed with contentment, and began to follow his newfound obsession.


	12. Longing

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 12: Longing

By the time Riddick walked out on Johns, Isis was already helping the passengers pack up. The plan was to move into the dwelling where Fry had found the skiff and begin preparations to leave this hellish planet behind. Riddick walked up to the group. Shazza was the first to spot him and gasped in terror. "It's all right," Isis said. "He's one of us now." She looked at Riddick and the corner of her lips turned upwards into a subtle smile. She was teasing him. Riddick smirked back at her.

Johns walked up and took in the scene. He did not like how cozy Isis and Riddick were becoming. "What are you two standing around for?" Isis shook her head in disgust, then turned around and continued to help Jack pack up supplies. Johns looked at Riddick. "Don't just stand around. Help them carry the shit." Riddick growled at Johns causing the passengers to glance nervously over their shoulders.

Johns stared him down. Riddick finally gave in and walked over to Fry and Imam. Imam pulled out one of the power cells. "Just one?" he asked. "For now," Fry said just as Riddick walked up. Fry and Riddick eyed each other suspiciously. Imam, no longer a young man, struggled under the weight of the power cell. Riddick continued to stare Fry down for a few more seconds before finally relieving Imam of his charge. He took the power cell and slung it over his shoulder as if it weighed nothing. He leered at Carolyn one more time before dragging the power cell towards the hill where Isis and the rest of the group were waiting.

Isis watched him approach. She looked down at the ground and snickered as he walked up. "What the hell's so funny?" he asked in mock anger. "It's just funny I guess," Isis mused. "How you can go from a blood-thirsty monster to beast of burden (she gestured to the loads each of them had on their backs) in a matter of minutes." Riddick chuckled, "Well you know what they say. Life's a bitch." Isis genuinely laughed at this. The sound was like music to his ears. "A stone cold bitch," she laughed humorlessly.

They grinned at each other for a moment. Isis' gaze momentarily drifted to Riddick's lips. It was very subtle but he could take a hint. He seized the opportunity and leaned in to kiss her. She sucked in a startled breath, a bit surprised at his boldness, but she didn't retreat from his advance. Johns cleared his throat right as Riddick's lips brushed hers.

Isis turned her fiery gaze on Johns and the rest of the passengers. Her eyes were glowing and she could barely breathe but somehow she managed to snarl in Johns' direction. Every one of them took a step back, except for Johns who glared at her defiantly. He was getting a little too confident for Isis' taste. Both she and her beast were thoroughly pissed off. This was now the second time they'd been interrupted. The next person who dared to do it a third time would pay. Isis' response gave Riddick great satisfaction, or at least enough for the time being, because he pulled away and chuckled at their audience. Isis longingly watched him walk away.

The group gathered their supplies and began their journey towards the skiff. She picked up the rest of her load and followed him. She snarled at Johns as she walked by, causing him to jump back. Riddick laughed and continued to drag the power cell behind him. Shazza walked to the front of the line to catch up with Johns. "So, you click your fingers and he's one of us now?" she asked skeptically. Johns chuckled, "I didn't say that. But at least this way I don't have to worry about you all falling asleep and not waking up." Jack walked up beside Shazza and Johns. "So, can I talk to them now?" she asked hopefully. "No!" Shazza and Johns shouted simultaneously. Isis continued to walk behind Riddick, enjoying the view so to speak. Riddick could feel her eyes move over his body periodically. Paris walked a couple of feet ahead of Riddick. One of his "spirits" fell out of his sac. "Blast!" he cursed. He reached down to get it but Riddick was quicker.

He snatched the bottle out of the sand, his face only inches from Paris. Paris stood up shakily and held out his hand. Paris P. Ogleby, antiquities dealer, entrepreneur." Isis watched in amusement, wondering what Riddick would do. He smiled, grabbed Paris' hand, and shook it. "Richard B. Riddick, escaped convict, murderer." Isis chuckled under her breath.

He picked up the bottle, uncorked it, and raised the glass to his lips. "Th-that's a particularly good Shiraz, i-it's a lovely drop," he stammered. Riddick threw back his head and began chugging the wine. "By all means, help yourself," Paris said. Just as he was about to swallow the last gulp, Isis placed her hand on Riddick's (the one holding the bottle), causing him to lower it. It was the first time she'd touched him. Her hand was warm and surprisingly soft. Her touch was electrifying.

"May I?" she asked. Riddick handed her the bottle. She didn't seem to mind that he'd drank out of the bottle first. She threw back her head and swallowed the last gulp. She licked her lips that were now red with wine. It took everything in Riddick not to assault her with his lips. How he longed for just one taste… She was teasing him again and doing a damn good job of it too. She gave Riddick a devious grin as she handed the bottle back to Paris and walked away. Riddick hated for her to leave but he loved to watch her go.


	13. Dead and Gone

Author's Note: Hi guys! Thanks to all who have stayed with me as I continue to update my story. Thanks for all your support and I would like to encourage you guys to write LOTS of reviews. You're opinions matter greatly to me and it's so much fun to hear what you guys think so feel free to write whatever's on your mind! I'm really excited about this chapter so I hope you guys enjoy it!

Sincerely,

Smurf N Turf

* * *

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 13: Dead and Gone

The group arrived at the abandoned village. Fry and the others took the power cell from Riddick and prepared to stick it in the ship. Paris walked up to the ship with another alcoholic beverage in hand and shook his head in disgust. "I mean normally I can appreciate antiques, but this (he motioned to the skiff) this is something else," he complained. "It'll work," Johns promised. "It's nothing we can't repair so long as the electrical adapts," Fry added confidently.

"Well, it's not a star jumper," Shazza said still not convinced. "It doesn't need to be," Riddick interjected. That got everyone's attention, including Isis. "You can take a two-seater like this back up to the shipping lanes, stick out a thumb, and you're bound to get picked up. Ain't that right, captain?" Fry and Johns shared a knowing look. Isis noticed it immediately and it made her feel very uneasy. They were up to something, something she was almost certain had to do with getting rid of her and Riddick along the way. Apparently Riddick shared her suspicions and felt the need to call them out in front of the group. He was proving to be far more intelligent and troublesome than Johns had bargained for.

Fry glared at Riddick. "Could somebody give me a hand here?" she asked as she tried to lift the power cell into the skiff. _**Changing the subject, a classic sign of someone who has something to hide, **_Isis thought. Before anyone else could reach down to help Fry, Isis grabbed the power cell herself. She stared into Fry's eyes, holding her captive within her endless silver glare. She immediately smelled Fry's fear and guilt. Isis was well acquainted with these two emotions. They were unmistakable. That was all she needed to confirm her suspicions. Fry and Johns had a plan. She just needed to find out what it was and who all was involved.

Fry stood up and backed out of her way. Isis picked up the power cell with just one hand and loaded it herself, then glared at Fry as she walked out of the skiff. _**She knows**_, Fry thought fearfully. Johns watched Isis walk away. He could tell she knew something because she kept sweeping her silver gaze between him and Fry. He decided to let it go for now as she walked away. Riddick started to follow her but Johns stopped him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, "Johns said as he held out his arm to block Riddick's path. Johns kept his eyes on Isis even though he was talking to Riddick. "Why don't you do me a favor? Check these containers out and see what we can patch these wings up with." Riddick kept his eyes on Isis as she rounded a corner, temporarily glancing back at him before she disappeared. Johns finally turned his stare on Riddick. Riddick stared back at him for a second before walking towards the containers. Johns grinned feeling he still had everything in control. If he only knew…

* * *

Shazza and Fry worked on repairing the ship while Jack, Imam, and his sons explored the complex. Paris elected to stay near the water source, complaining about the "blasted heat." Jack walked into a room that used to belong to a child. Dust-covered toys covered the shelves. Jack rummaged through the buckets of toys and discovered a razor. She decided it would be awesome for her to shave her head and dawn a pair of goggles she had found. She would look just like Riddick. Maybe that would get his attention and he would actually talk to her for once.

Johns guarded the ship while Shazza and Fry worked on repairing it. Fry soldered some wires together and the skiff's computer systems roared to life. Fry smiled at her progress. "So, we've got enough power for a sys check but we're going to need more cells," she said as Johns walked up. "How many are we talking about?" Johns asked. Fry made some calculations in her head."We need 5 total to launch," She announced. Johns frowned. "35 kilos each, huh? Fuck." he sighed in frustration. "Yeah, that's pretty heavy," Shazza agreed. "But I may be able to get that old sand cat out there running." Johns nodded in approval. "Yeah, do it if you can. But if you need a hand….Where'd Riddick go?" He looked outside the skiff and shook his head. "I'll go find him." Fry nodded and went back to work.

* * *

Riddick had noticed the coring room as soon as they had arrived. He had already figured out that the passengers had died, and he had a pretty good idea of what killed them. But he hadn't figured out where it all went down yet. But he had a hunch that something terrible had happened in the coring room. So he went to investigate. He looked over his shoulder periodically to make sure he wasn't being followed.

But he was being followed by a newly bald Jack with Imam's sons following close behind. Riddick walked up to the double doors of the coring room. He grabbed the handles and gave them a big jerk. _**Damn**_. He should have known that they'd be locked from the inside. _**To keep whatever was coming for them out**_, he thought. While Riddick fiddled with the doors Imam's youngest son, Ali, discovered a small opening on the other side of the building and crept inside.

Riddick noticed a tarp to his left and began to lift it. Johns whistled to Riddick like he was a disobedient dog that needed correcting. "You're missing the party. C'mon boy," Johns said patting his thigh with his hand. Riddick turned and jerked the tarp behind him. Jack gasped in surprise. Riddick turned and grinned at her. "You're missin' the party, c'mon," he said imitating Johns' southern drawl. Riddick walked away as Jack hung her head in defeat. _**So much for stealth**_, she thought. Meanwhile, Ali explored the inside of the coring room.

* * *

Isis wandered inside the same empty complex where Fry had discovered the planetary model. Next to the model were some rock samples that were dated at 22 years ago. Isis set down the rocks and eyed the model with curiosity. The number on the model read 16. She pushed the model forward in time, causing the numbers to click….17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22….At 22 the balls of light representing the planet's three suns went out. Isis' heart dropped. She turned it back to 21 and then back to 22, getting the same result. "An eclipse," Isis laughed humorlessly. "We are so fucked."

_**Of course it's an eclipse, **_her beast growled within._** What else would have the creatures in a frenzy? **_This model just confirmed what she had already known in her heart. She shook her head in disgust. Lady luck had once again revealed her stone cold bitch side. Before she could even process her new discovery, Isis heard commotion coming from a nearby building. It almost sounded like some kind of a machine. She walked outside and realized the noise was coming from a building right across from where she was standing.

The words written above the doors read **CORING ROOM**. She sniffed the air instinctively. She could smell one of Imam's sons, the youngest one. _**He must be inside**_, she thought. But she could smell something else in the room, something not human, and there were a lot of them. She could hear their collective heartbeats. _**Damn. Well, here goes nothing**_, Isis thought. She tried opening the door but it must have been locked on the inside. She might be able to kick it open, but she didn't want to set the creatures off. _**The kid got in there somehow**_. She walked around the building searching for another way in. She discovered a hole and slipped inside…


	14. Breaking Point

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 14: Breaking Point

It was very dark inside but Isis' heightened eyes had no trouble seeing her surroundings. She took a few steps inside but was frozen in place by the smell of fear. No, fear is too light of a word. What Isis smelled was pure terror….and blood. The boy's heart was beating a mile a minute. She could hear other heartbeats above her but Isis was a master of stealth. She ignored the snoozing creatures above her and crept towards the sound of the boy's hurried heart beat.

She crept up to a door and could tell that he was hiding on the other side. She could smell his pain now that she was so close to him. She put her cheek against the door and whispered, "Boy? Ali, are you alright?" Ali perked up from the fetal position he was laying in. She heard him whimper in pain. She shushed him. "Ali, I can't help you unless you let me in," she whispered. She began to gingerly push the door inward. Ali, being so overwhelmed by fear, had lost all sense of reality. He began to push the door back, blocking Isis' way. She cursed under her breath.

Isis lost patience and thrust the door open. Ali fell back but before he could scream, Isis placed her hand over his mouth and shushed him again. Tears streamed down Ali's face as he struggled against Isis grip. She struggled to calm him as her hand muffled his screams. She grew angry and turned the boy's face towards her own, forcing him to stare into her silver eyes. "I'm trying to help you but I need you to be quiet," she whispered fiercely. "Do you understand?" The boy nodded but Isis still kept her hand over his mouth. She lifted him to his feet and began to drag him towards the opening they had come in through.

Isis kept her eyes trained on the creatures sleeping on the ceiling. The boy remained quiet as they crept towards the opening. They were only a few yards from the opening when one of the creatures made a squeaking noise. The creature was merely dreaming but the sound sent the boy into a stupefied frenzy. He took Isis by surprise by flailing out his legs.

His feet collided into a switch that jumpstarted the machine above them. The ceiling exploded into life. "FUCK!" Isis screamed. Her arms fell off the boy who turned and ran back behind the doors she'd dragged him out of. The tiny beasts flew as if they were one body and swirled into the sunlight as the sun roof of the building opened.

They screeched in agony as the sunlight hit their bodies. They turned their sights on Isis and flew right towards her. She turned towards the boy and screamed, "Shut those doors and no matter what happens, do not open them!" Isis tapped into the deepest part of her strength, preparing for what she knew she would have to do.

Isis had a secret, an ability that she had only used once before in self defense. She had used it when escaping Crematoria. Making it out of the prison itself was only half the journey. The real battle was waiting for Isis on the surface of the planet. She had stumbled up to the ship that would be her salvation. Dozens of men had poured out of the ship and trained their guns on her. There was only one outcome for those who tried to escape…..death.

As Isis stared back at the guards, memories of her father, of the guards who had abused her, and of the loss of her pack overwhelmed her. Something inside her snapped. She erupted into her beast form and unleashed an ability that wiped out every last guard in her path. Being part hell hound had given Isis the ability to communicate telepathically with not only her pack, but with every living being she came in contact with.

She couldn't read minds per say, but she could sense feelings and emotions. That was what she'd meant when she had told Johns that "monsters understand other monsters." Through this ability she felt the anxiety and hunger of the creatures below the ground. She had also sensed Riddick's overwhelming desire for her in the same manner. Isis had no idea if her gift would even work in human form but she had to try.

She turned towards the wall of creatures and unleashed a tremendous roar that was both physical and mental. The sound was at such a high decibel level that the creatures' echolocation was completely shut down. They started to drop out of the air. Some crashed into the walls of the buildings while others crashed into each other. A few managed to escape underground through a pipe but a majority of them fell dead at Isis feet.

Ali covered his ears and screamed in agony. What neither Isis nor the boy had realized was that there was another horde of the creatures sleeping within the doors on Ali's side. Isis' sonic roar sent them into a frenzy. They smarmed around Ali and began ripping him apart. Isis' roar was so loud that it drowned out Ali's screams.

* * *

Meanwhile….

The other passengers and Riddick had gathered inside one of the homes and were enjoying a glass of water. Paris walked over to Shazza. "So who were these people? Miners?" he asked. Shazza picked up a rock sample similar to ones Isis had discovered. "No, I think they were geologists. You know, like an advanced team that moves rock to rock." She handed Paris a rock sample. "Nice of them to leave so much stuff here," Fry added sarcastically. She slammed her hands onto the back of a chair in frustration. There was just something about the whole situation that didn't feel right to her.

"Why'd they leave their ship?" she asked in exasperation. Imam finally noticed that Ali was missing. He walked outside and searched for him. Johns took a sip of his water. "It's not a ship. It's a skiff and it's disposable really," he said. "Yeah, it's like a life raft really," Paris added. Shazza nodded. "They probably had a big ship take them off planet," she said. Riddick, ever the optimist, got tired of listening to everyone dancing around the truth they already knew.

"These people didn't leave. C'mon. Whatever got Zeke got them. There all dead," he said dryly. Shazza shook her head in disgust. Riddick continued, "You don't really think they left with their clothes on hooks and books on shelves do you?" Shazza glared at him defiantly. "Maybe they had weight limits. You don't know…." Riddick cut her off, "I know you don't prep your emergency ship unless there's a fucking emergency," he smirked.

"He's fucking right," Jack added emphatically. "Watch your mouth," Johns chastised. "He's just saying what we're all thinking," Fry concluded. Imam burst in. "Has anyone seen the little one? Ali?" he screamed frantically. Silence filled the room. Riddick broke the silence with a loaded question, "Has anyone checked the coring room?"

Just then, the sound of Isis' roar filled the air. Everyone fell to the ground and covered their ears, even Riddick. "What the fuck is that?" Fry screamed. "I don't know!" Johns screamed back. The sound carried on for a few more agonizing seconds and then was gone as quickly as it had come.

The group stood shakily to their feet, their ears ringing. Imam stood and ran outside the door. "Fuck! Somebody stop him!" Johns screamed as he struggled to keep his balance. They ran after him but stopped short. Isis was walking out of the doors of the coring room. Tears streamed out of her silver eyes, now glowing brighter than Riddick had ever seen them. He was taken aback by her reaction.

Her face was stained with blood, the boy's blood. She had covered Ali's mutilated body in a tarp and was now carrying him in her arms. Imam and his surviving sons stumbled over to Isis. Imam began to weep as he tried to lift the tarp. "Don't." He stopped and looked up at her through his tears. "It will only bring you pain," Isis said. Imam nodded and took his son's lifeless body. "I'm sorry," was all Isis could muster.

The group was completely silent as Isis walked numbly between them. Even Johns said nothing as she disappeared inside one of the homes. She leaned her back against the wall and slid all the way down. Tremors rocked her body as she wept for the boy she had failed to save.


	15. Birth of a Monster

Author's Note: If you've longed to know what made Riddick the monster he is, you're not alone. I gave it some thought and I have written my explanation here. I had not originally planned on writing about Riddick's past, but I couldn't stop myself. Consequently, this is a longer chapter than the others. The first half is about Riddick's past. The second half is about Isis and the things she's dealing with. Prepare to cry. I know I did…

* * *

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 15: Birth of a Monster

Riddick:

Riddick had tried to follow Isis into the building but Johns had stopped him. "Go help the old man bury the stiff," he had commanded. Riddick wasn't really upset about the kid's death, but in spite of himself, he had not liked Johns referring to the kid as "the stiff." What was happening to him? He'd seen plenty of death in his life and the age of the deceased had never had an effect on him. He chalked it up to exhaustion and dehydration.

He distracted himself with digging a grave for Ali while Imam and his sons prayed to God for his soul. _**He ain't listenin'**_, Riddick thought bitterly. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake from his mind the look Isis had had on her face when she was carrying the dead child in her arms. He knew that look. It's the look a person gets when they just don't give a fuck anymore. But there was something stronger than the look on Isis' face that had unsettled him. It was the overwhelming desire he had felt to reach out and hold her, and the pain he'd felt when he realized that he couldn't. And now there was this feeling in his chest, like a hole was growing there that got bigger every time he was forced to stay away from her. He growled to himself when he remembered that Johns was the one who had kept him away from her. _**Johns better pray he don't live long enough to regret it…**_

Riddick hadn't felt a pain like that since _**her**_. He fought to repress the memory but it just wouldn't stay hidden.

* * *

Flashback:

Riddick is holding the hand of a young woman in labor. They were both about 21 years old then. Riddick whispered encouragement in her ear as tears streamed out of her baby blue eyes. She nodded her head and gave him a strained smile. He smiled back at her and lovingly moved a strand of her blonde hair out of her eyes. He wanted a better look at his beautiful wife and soon-to-be mother of his first child.

She gave another push and screamed in agony but her efforts seemed to bring no progress. The doctor turned his concerned expression on Riddick and asked to have a word with him in the next room. Riddick did not like the way the doctor kept looking at his Amy. He kissed her forehead, reluctant to leave her side. "I'll be right back babe. Hang in there." She nodded. He looked at the nurse. "She'll be fine," the nurse promised. _**I hope**_, she thought silently as Riddick walked out with the doctor.

He and the doctor walked into the hall. "Is there a problem doc?" The doctor looked at the ground and sighed. "We're losing them Richard." Riddick looked at the doctor in unbelief. "What do you mean you're losing them?" The doctor put his hand on Riddick's shoulder. "You knew that the baby was premature and that there was a chance that we might lose her." Riddick knocked the doctor's hand off of his shoulder. "What about Amy?"

The doctor and Riddick looked towards Amy's room. "The strain is too much for her Richard. And if we don't get the baby out of her soon we could lose them both. I couldn't tell Amy because she's already under great stress. So, I'm asking you for permission to remove the baby now." Riddick slid his hands over his bald head in frustration. He didn't want to lose his child but he simply couldn't stand the thought of losing his precious Amy. "Do it," he said.

The doctor nodded and Riddick was forced to sit in the waiting room while Amy was in surgery. After several grueling hours, the doctor came out of the operation room. He had blood on his gown and he had his mask around his neck. He looked at Riddick. That was all it took. In that one look, his entire life had fallen apart.

He shoved the doctor out of the way and ran into the emergency room. The nurse gasped as he blasted through the doors. He barely made it to her side before his legs gave out on him. He grabbed Amy's cold lifeless hand and kissed it tenderly. Their dead baby had been laid in her arms. He bent down and kissed his baby girl's head. The nurses' eyes filled with tears as her heart broke for this crushed young man. She had enough sense to give Riddick some time with his family.

She slipped out of the doors and walked towards the doctor. Shortly afterward, the doctor came into the room where Riddick was weeping. The nurse had begged him not to, but he felt the need to speak to Riddick. He walked over to Riddick and placed his hand on his shoulder. Riddick tensed under his touch. "I'm so sorry son. Sometimes, these things just happen and there's nothing we can do about it. But it's not your fault." Something inside Riddick snapped. "No, it's not." He looked up at the doctor.

The doctor gasped and took several steps back. Never in his life had he ever seen more hatred in a man's eyes than what he saw in Riddick's at that very moment. "It's yours." He stood up and grabbed a scalpel. The doctor took several more steps back towards the doors. "Ww-ait a second…Richard, your wife had a heart disease." Riddick froze.

"She came in to see me several months ago while you were working. She said her chest was hurting and sometimes it was hard to breathe. We discovered the disease and that Amy was pregnant on the same day. I told her that the pregnancy was most likely going to kill her and advised that she should get an abortion." Tears streamed down Riddick's face and the scalpel fell out of his hands. "Heart disease? Why didn't she tell me?" He screamed.

"She didn't want to upset you. She knew that she was eventually going to die anyway. So, she felt that it would be better if you were not left alone. That your child would be her parting gift to you." Riddick's legs gave out again. He fell on his hands and knees as everything the doctor said hit him. The doctor's eyes were filled with tears as he kneeled over Riddick's weeping form. "I'm so very sorry Richard." Riddick's anger overtook him. His hand closed over the scalpel he'd dropped. "No you're not. Not yet." He stabbed the doctor in the jugular. His blood covered Riddick's face and hands. It was warm and it felt good somehow. It made him feel like he had some semblence of control over his newly fucked up life.

The nurse was worried. The doctor had been in there a while. She opened the doors and screamed in horror as Riddick pulled the scalpel out the doctor's body that was twitching from shock.

Something in Riddick died that day, along with his beloved family. Some would say it was his sanity. But others would say it was much more than that. That what Riddick had lost...was his very soul...

Riddick Ran….and he'd been running ever since.

* * *

Back to present:

The shovel dropped out of Riddick's hand. He saw his wife's face in the grave he was digging. He closed his eyes and pinched the sides of his nose as if he were in pain. Imam looked up at him. "Are you alright son?" Riddick turned his glare on Imam…or was it the doctor? His mind was not entirely back from its trip to memory lane. Imam and his sons froze in fear. He looked back at the grave. It was empty. Slowly, Riddick's senses returned to him. He picked up the shovel and resumed digging. _**Concentrate on digging**_, Riddick told himself. He focused on the rhythm, clearing his mind. Dig, lift, toss. Dig, lift, toss…

* * *

Isis:

Isis had spent her whole life trying to stay alive. But, at this moment she would gladly take the place of the small boy that Imam was now burying. She had done so many things in her life she wasn't proud of. She couldn't understand why she kept surviving while good people died all around her.

Her mother had died giving birth to her. Her father had died for a reason unknown to her, and now this young boy had died in her arms. It seemed as if everything she touched was doomed to oblivion. **What's the point?** She thought bitterly. **What's the point of living if I can never get close to anyone without losing them?**

"Child?" She opened her eyes and realized that she'd cried herself to sleep. Her face was drenched in tears and her body was extremely weak. Imam stared down at her with concern in his puffy eyes. He too had been crying. She closed her eyes and turned away from him in shame. "You hate me don't you?" Her voice was full of pain and self loathing. "Hate you?" She began to weep. "Child, look at me." She shook her head. He gently placed his hand on her chin and lifted it. He stared into her hazel eyes. "You did everything you could to save my son. But, it is God who has the final say in the lives of men."

Isis' eyes changed into silver and her face became hard with anger. "God?" She spat out his name like it was some kind of disease. "Where was your God when your son died?" Her voice grew louder. "Where was He when my parents died?" She screamed. "How can you serve a God who stands by while innocents suffer?"

Without hesitation, Imam answered her question with another: "Is it through joy or hardship that we are drawn closest to God?" Isis wrinkled her brow, not understanding what he meant. "When things go well for man, he rarely thinks of God. It is only when man is at his lowest, that he cries out to God seeking His guidance… and His love." He smiled at her with a sincerity that moved her to her very soul.

She admired him and envied his unwavering faith. She couldn't remember ever believing in something with such certainty. Her eyes turned back to hazel. She still wasn't willing to completely surrender her will over to a God that she'd spent most of her life loathing, but she respected Imam. She nodded her head and gave him a weak smile.


	16. Kindness

Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 16: Kindness

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Imam stretched out his hand and Isis took it. She was so weak that she nearly fell as she struggled to her feet. Imam caught Isis and threw her left arm over his shoulder. She leaned on him for support as they walked towards the door. It was a somewhat uncomfortable position for her because she was so much taller than Imam. She's just shy of being 6 feet tall, but still tall enough to look Riddick in the eyes. She slammed her eyes shut in pain as they walked into the sunlight.

The others were waiting inside the house, sipping water in silence. They had been reluctant to go into the coring room after Isis had carried the boy's dead body out of it only an hour before. An unspoken sense of doom had fallen over the little group.

Johns and Fry went in to clean up the mess of blood and tissue on the ground before they brought the others in to investigate. Johns had gone in first, gun raised, to make sure none of the creatures had stayed behind. But, the building was clear…and silent as the grave. Fry cleaned up while Johns guarded her. When she finished cleaning, they walked back to get the others.

Johns walked inside followed closely by Fry. They were becoming a little too cozy for Riddick's taste. _**Guess I'll have to have a little chat with the captain**_, Riddick thought to himself. Johns walked in and regarded Riddick and Shazza with a nod. "You two, come with me." Jack got up. "Not you kid," Johns scolded. Jack threw her hands up in exasperation. "Ah, come on," she whined. Fry raised her eyebrows. "Do as he says," she said. Jack sighed in frustration.

"The child will stay with me," Imam announced as he and Isis entered the room. The room grew silent as all eyes fell on Isis. She cast her silver eyes towards the ground. She was using the last reserves of her strength after the incident, meaning that her eyes probably wouldn't return to normal for a while. _**Or**_ _**at least not until I feed again**_, she thought remorsefully. She would deal with that when it came…

Riddick's emotions suddenly overwhelmed her senses. He had always seemed in control of his emotions, but whatever calm he had before, had all but disappeared. It confused her. She had always felt his desire for her, but this felt different. She'd never felt this emotion from him before, so it was difficult for her to pin point exactly what it was he was feeling. Whatever it was, it was very strong.

Even stranger was that she hadn't felt fear when the room grew silent as she usually did. What she had felt…was respect. Well, respect from everyone but Johns of course. His contempt for her was radiating from his body like a 100,000 watt radio station. She ignored it, overwhelmed by the response she had received from the others.

Imam cleared his throat. "Could someone please get the lady a chair?" he asked. _**The lady? This is just too weird**_, she thought. To Isis' shock, nearly every person in the room jumped into action. Jack was a little faster. She grabbed the chair and patted on it. Isis gazed at Imam, eyes wide with disbelief. "Go on," he nodded in approval. She lifted her arm from his neck and took a step towards the chair. She took two, then three. She stumbled and nearly fell again, but she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist. The room once again fell silent.

Everyone else in the room disappeared as Isis peered up at Riddick. His expression was composed, but only just. She could sense his possessiveness towards her. It startled her. She didn't know when or why his feelings had changed from what seemed like pure lust to something deeper, but she didn't care. It felt good to have his arms around her. It just felt…right. They had been staring at each other for a good 5 seconds before Johns cleared his throat. Riddick glared at Johns, and then gently set Isis onto the chair. The tenderness with which Riddick set her down was not lost on her, or the others for that matter.

Johns was also confused and infuriated by Riddick's actions towards Isis. _**You've gotta be fucking kidding me**_, he thought bitterly. _**He's playing these stupid fucks right into his hands. Real smart Riddick, get them to trust you just so you can fuck 'em over in the end. Maniacal bastard. Well, you ain't fooling me**_. He just stood there and fumed in silence. Riddick didn't seem to notice.

Once Isis found her balance, he reluctantly let her go. She felt a great sense of loss when he removed his arms from her waist. Riddick was forced to move back as Fry and Shazza rushed to Isis' side, but he never took his eyes off of her for a second. Shazza began to dab her blood-covered face with a wet rag. "There ya go love. We'll 'av you cleaned up in no time," Shazza cooed. Isis just stared in amazement as Fry handed her a cup of cool water.

"Here, you must be thirsty." Isis downed the water gratefully. Jack affectionately patted her shoulders. Isis looked up at Jack's new haircut and smirked. "What?" Jack asked indignantly. Isis just shook her head and chuckled. Then it was Paris' turn to approach Isis. He pulled the empty cup out of her hands with a sneer. "Something tells me that you could go for a drink with a bit more kick," he grinned as he handed her a very fine wine. Isis actually laughed at this. "Uh, thanks," she said with a grin.

Johns finally couldn't take it anymore. "Hate to break up the love fest, but we've still got work to do," Johns interjected. He looked like he was about to vomit. The group turned and glared at him, including Isis. He pointed at Riddick, Shazza, and the captain. "You three come with me," he said. He looked at Imam and Isis. "The other two can stay and babysit," he sneered.

If Isis had felt up to it, she would have flipped him off again. But as Johns turned his back, it was Jack who did the honors. Isis snickered. Johns looked back one last time just to glare at Isis. She glared back at him. It was dangerous for her to be this fragile with him around. He might get ideas. She figured that he wouldn't be able to do much to her if the others continued to care for her as they had done; a fact that she would not soon forget.


	17. Doomed

Author's Note: Woo Hoo! We're so close to the eclipse I can taste it! I can't wait for the lights to go out (sorry passengers) LOL I hope you guys are as excited as I am, cause I've got some big ideas for what I'm going to call "the dark chapters." Bwahaha

Thanks for all of your reviews and PLEASE continue to write more. I get so flipping excited when I get messages from you guys. Well, here's what will probably be the last chapter before the lights go out. You're not afraid of the dark are you? ;)

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Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 17: Doomed

As soon as Johns and the others left, Jack raided the pantry. She found some stale crackers and handed them to Isis. "They're a little stale, but it's all I could find," Jack apologized. Isis smiled up at Jack and took the crackers gratefully.

"They're fine Jack. Thanks." Jack smiled. "Eat well Isis. For I fear that you will need all of your strength to survive whatever comes next," Imam said. So, they had finally sensed it, the impending sense of doom that subtly hung in the air. He was right….more than he knew. So, Isis ate. She could feel her strength slowly returning to her, although she knew that she would need a far larger meal to recover completely. She would need to feed very soon if she wished to be at full strength when the creatures came to the surface. She planned to break the news to Fry as soon as possible. Then, they could figure out what to do next.

Meanwhile….

Johns lit a flare and dropped it into the cellar of the coring room. It seemed to fall forever before it finally hit the bottom. The flare illuminated the passengers' worst fears. The cellar was so littered with human skeletons that they couldn't even see the ground. Johns and the others stared into to hole, the full reality of what they were faced with finally setting in.

Riddick leaned over the edge, unfazed. "So they ran here, heaviest doors. Thought they'd be safe inside, but they forgot to lock the cellar," Riddick explained. Shazza turned and walked away, unable to hear anymore of Riddick's morbid, but startlingly accurate, theories. The others soon followed her.

Riddick took off his goggles to get a better look. Shazza walked up as he put them back on. She had been feeling guilty ever since she realized that Riddick hadn't killed Zeke. Trying to make a mends, she tossed him her oxygen tank. "Here," she tossed it to Riddick who snatched it mid air. He looked at it. "When it's broken?" He asked incredulously and then slammed it on the ground.

"No, there's still a few hits. Actually, you asshole, what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry," Shazza growled, seething with anger. Johns overheard their conversation and decided to interrupt them before it turned into something dangerous. "Alright, let's board this place up and get the hell out of here," he ordered.

Shazza glared at Riddick one last time, and then angrily kicked the oxygen tank towards him before storming out. Riddick waited until she left the room and decided that it might be useful to take the oxygen tank with him. He slung it over his shoulder.

Isis was feeling much better by the time the group had finished boarding up the Coring Room. Despite the protests of Imam and Jack, she decided to find the captain and inform her about the impending eclipse. She followed Fry and Johns' scent and walked up just in time to overhear their conversation.

"Whatever the fuck those things were, they seem to stick to darkness. So, if we stick to daylight, we should be alright, okay? Let's go," Johns said. He turned to walk away but Fry's words stopped him. "Twenty-two years," she said. "What?" Johns asked. "These coring samples are dated. The last one is dated 22 years ago this month," Fry explained. Johns rolled his eyes. "Okay. Is there anything special about that Carolyn?" He asked. Fry sighed in frustration. "I don't know," she said.

"Actually I do," Isis interjected. Johns turned and glared at her. Before he could butt in, Isis continued. "I found a model of this planet in one of the houses with numbers beneath it. I think the numbers are equivalent to years," Isis explained. A wave of realization washed over Fry's face. "Oh my God," Fry whispered. Johns huffed in frustration, "One of you better tell me what the fuck's going on," he warned. "Follow me," Isis said.

All the passengers gathered around the model as Isis turned the dial forward to 18 years. She looked up to see Jack's pale face. Jack had noticed that the adults were acting strange but she wasn't exactly sure why. Isis stopped and decided to let Fry do the honors. "Here," she motioned for the captain. "See for yourself." She went and stood by Jack, wrapping her arm around her shoulder. No doubt the poor girl would need some kind of reassurance after she heard the news. She noticed Riddick move in beside her.

Fry held her breath as she clicked the years forward on the model. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22…The lights disappeared just as they had when Isis had discovered it the first time. Fry's face went pale. The room grew deathly quiet. Jack looked up at Isis, her eyes wide with terror. Isis looked down at Jack-her own face masked with tranquility-and patted Jack's shoulders reassuringly. On the inside she was afraid for all of them.

She would survive, of that she had no doubts. But she was afraid for her human friends. Even Riddick was in danger of not making it off this planet alive. Time was a precious commodity for them and it was running out…._fast_. Fry moved the model back and forth, almost as if she believed that she could keep the lights on if she just kept willing them too. Riddick leaned in and grinned at Fry, "You're not afraid of the dark are you?" he asked. Isis shook her head.

_**Talk about a fucked up sense of humor**_, she thought to herself. She felt no fear from Riddick, confirming her suspicions-he had a plan. Somehow she got the feeling that that plan had nothing to do with getting the other passengers off this rock. Her instincts told her that Riddick was looking out for number one. A fact her beast could sympathize with. It had already calculated its own escape plan in case things went to hell. Isis hoped it wouldn't come to that. But there was one thing that she was sure of. _**When the lights go out and the dying starts, this little psycho-fuck family is going to rip itself apart.**_


	18. Eclipse

Author's Note: The eclipse is finally upon us ladies and gents! This chapter is going to be the transition into what I'm going to call The Dark Chapters. Consequently, Ch. 18: Eclipse (original no?) is going to be much longer than the previous chapters. So, strap in. You're in for one hell of a ride!

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Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 18: Eclipse

* * *

Fry's blood went cold. Isis could feel panic set in among the other passengers, even Johns. In fact, she could feel his fear with more clarity than she could from Jack, who was standing right beside her. _**Knew he was a little chicken-shit**_, she thought. Fry stormed out the door. "Carolyn!" Johns called after her and went outside. Paris' legs went out from under him. Luckily for him, he landed in a chair. The smell of his piss invaded Isis' nostrils. _**Spineless bastard**_, she thought disgustedly.

Isis knew that Fry was making a beeline for the skiff. No doubt she would be making preparations to bring the rest of the cells onboard the tiny ship. That is, if Johns would let her. She didn't know why he had ordered that they only take one cell to the skiff, but she was going to find out. She cleared her throat, "Well, excuse me while I go shit myself," she joked. Then, she promptly walked out the door. The other passengers just stood there, not even hearing her they were so wrapped up in their own fears. Riddick chuckled out loud and followed Isis out.

Isis hid behind a barrel just as she heard Fry say, "Shit, I've still got to check the hull and patch up the wings." Johns followed closely behind her. "We wait on the power cells," he said adamantly. "Wait for what? Until it gets too dark to see?" Fry asked skeptically. Riddick took his place beside Isis who was listening intently to Johns and Carolyn's conversation.

"We don't know when it's gonna happen. So, let's not get too excited," Johns replied stubbornly. Fry turned on Johns. "Just get the fucking cells Johns! What's the discussion?" Johns looked down at the ground and grinned. He looked back up at Carolyn, "Maybe I should tell you about how Riddick escaped." Johns looked around. Riddick and Isis ducked behind their respective barrels. He walked inside the skiff and motioned for Carolyn to follow. She hesitated and then huffed into the skiff. The gesture reminded Isis of a child who had just been scolded for sticking their hand in a cookie jar.

To her surprise, they didn't shut the skiff's door. Isis took advantage and sneaked to the end of the ship, just to the left of the ship's open hull. She felt the heat roll off of Riddick's body as he leaned in beside her, struggling to listen. "So…how did Riddick escape?" Fry asked. Johns didn't hesitate, "He killed the pilot and stole his ship." Isis looked over her shoulder at Riddick. He smirked and shrugged his shoulders. Isis rolled her eyes and then turned her head back towards the opening. She grinned to herself when she knew Riddick couldn't see her face.

Fry remained silent for a moment as the reality of what Johns had told her sank in. She shook her head and cursed under breath. "He can pilot." It wasn't a question, but a statement of fact. She took a seat. "Look, you told me we could trust him. You said that we had a deal Johns," Fry rambled. "Well in case you hadn't noticed, chains don't work on this guy. The only way you people are truly safe is if he believes he's going free, "Johns said.

_**Lying bastard**_, Isis stifled a snarl. She looked back at Riddick once again, fire in her eyes. He smirked at her, placing a finger over his lips, and nodded towards the two conspirators. He knew how pissed she was and was trying to keep her quiet. She nodded at him coolly and continued to listen. "And what happens if he realizes that we're going to royally fuck him over?" Fry asked fearfully.

"Now you just listen to me for a second. If we bring the cells up at the last possible second, when the wings are ready, and we know that we're ready to launch…." Fry impatiently interrupted him. "He hasn't harmed any of us, and as far as I know, he hasn't even lied to us. Let's just stick to the deal Johns." Johns furiously threw his finger in Carolyn's face," He's a killer and law saws that he has to do his bit. There's nothing I can do about that. You hear me?" Fry glared back at him. "You're dancing on razor blades, you know that?"

Isis had heard enough and being so deprived of blood had taken its toll on her. The beast was only a breath away from the surface and listening to this conversation was doing nothing but pissing it off. She crept back towards the house, using barrels for cover, and slunk inside. Riddick watched her go. He could sense the danger emanating from within her and it exhilarated him. One little push and she'd snap. He hoped that Johns would pop off soon so he could enjoy the aftermath.

He also wished like hell that he could have seen her when she had fed on that corpse. He'd known that she had fed on something when she'd rejoined the group all bright eyed and bushy tailed. He wagered that she had sneaked a little mid-morning snack while he was getting the shit beat out of him by the psycho bitch Shazza and by Johns' when he'd "interrogated" him with his baton.

He sat down with a bucket of shaving gel and a curved blade he'd found and began to shave his head. Johns came outside of the skiff. He was shaking and began to dry heave by the side of the skiff. "Bad sign, shaking like that in this heat," Riddick smirked. He ran the blade over his scalp. The sound of the blade grating over Riddick's bare scalp made Johns stomach turn even more. "I th-hought I s-said no sivs, shivs," Johns stammered. He stared fearfully at Riddick, as he slid the gel-covered blade over the side of the bucket, removing the excess gel. The gel bore a striking resemblance to coagulated blood…

Johns gave up and stumbled towards the house. He walked in looking rather pale and ordered the passengers to gather anything that could be used to patch the wings. The passengers set out, scavenging from house to house. Johns spread out on a cot and took a short nap. When the passengers disappeared from sight, Riddick took the liberty of sneaking inside the skiff, just as Carolyn shut the back door. Isis noticed him slip inside with the captain. _**Shit. I hope he doesn't do something stupid**_, she thought.

A few minutes later Riddick reemerged from the skiff, followed by an extremely pale Fry, shortly after. She walked straight towards where Johns was snoozing. Riddick strode placidly over to where Isis was standing. She raised a questioning brow. Riddick grinned. "Just thought the captain ought to know a few things about our Johns," he smirked. Isis nodded. **_Johns ran his mouth and now Riddick's returning the favor._** "Do unto others…" she started. "Exactly," Riddick interjected, nodding with approval. **_Dangerously smart and dangerously sexy, my kind of woman_**, Riddick thought.

Suddenly, Isis' face changed from amusement to absolute terror. She shoved past Riddick, power walking towards the skiff. "Isis?" called after her. She stopped, twitching her head from side to side. "Listen," she said. She knelt down and placed her trembling hand on the ground. Her eyes went blank, void of emotion. "The creatures are stirring," she said in a dazed kind of voice.

She turned and leaped on a nearby stack of barrels, then hopped on top of a building to get a better look. Just as Riddick landed beside Isis, he saw her eyes lock on the horizon. Riddick followed her gaze. The rings of a nearby planet came into view just above the horizon. "We're too late," she said simply.

Ali's two young sons watched planet peak the horizon. They ran towards the building that Fry and Johns were in screaming, "Captain!" Soon Fry, Shazza, Paris, and Imam emerged. They stared on in horror as the planet grew larger by the second. "What are my eyes seeing?" Paris stammered.

Shazza seemed to be the only one that still had her wits about her. "If we need anything from the crash ship, I suggest we kick on. That sand cat's solar." She leaped into action. The others quickly followed. Isis turned and looked at the passengers rushing to the sand cat. "We're never going to make it," she said to Riddick. He nodded in agreement. But the passengers started up the sand cat anyway and piled on.

"Where are Isis and Riddick?" Jack screamed. "Leave them! They wouldn't wait for us," Paris growled. Just then, both Isis and Riddick came soaring from above and landed on the sand cat with effortless ease. Paris stood and looked nervously over his shoulder. "Thought we lost you," he stuttered. Isis and Riddick both glared at him. He plopped back down.

"Where's Johns?" Shazza screamed in frustration. Johns gathered up his gun, fake police vest, and of course, his stash of morphine to remedy the shiv Riddick had left in his spine. He went for the sweet spot and missed; a mistake that he was really beginning to regret. Johns ran outside just as Shazza was taking off. He leapt up on the back. Riddick grabbed his arm. They stared each other down for a second before Riddick hauled Johns all the way up.

Riddick sat down next to Isis. She still had a dazed look on her face. Jack stared at Riddick. She pulled on her goggles and stared at him intensely. He smirked at her and pointed. Jack turned just in time to duck beneath the bones of one of the giant carcasses. The sand cat hurtled towards the crash site. As soon as they arrived, every passenger leapt into action.

Paris ran towards the half of the ship that he stored the rest of his boos in. The rest of the passengers and Riddick went to work on retrieving the remaining power cells. Isis walked towards the eclipse, almost as if she were in a trance. Jack walked to Isis right side. "Isis? Are you all right?" She tugged Isis' arm. Isis responded by getting on her knees once again and placing her hand on the ground. "So hungry," she said. "So hungry…"

Riddick walked out and dropped his load on the sand cat. "Riddick?" Jack called, her voice filled with concern. He saw Isis on the ground, her eyes fixed on the horizon. He knelt beside her and waved his hand in front of her eyes. She continued to stare at the horizon. "So hungry," she said. Riddick looked at Jack. "Go get on the cat kid," he ordered. Jack looked at Isis once more before getting on the sand cat. The sky began to darken at a startling rate. Jack began to wipe the dust off of the sand cat's solar turbine but it was no use, the turbine stopped turning. Darkness overtook the land and sounds of the creatures' screeching filled the air.

Isis rose to her feet, a grin playing at the corners of her mouth. Hundreds of thousands of beasts poured from termite mounds. Riddick removed his goggles and stared in awe. "How many are there Riddick?" Johns asked. Neither Riddick nor Isis seemed to hear him. They simply stared as thousands more poured into the darkness. "Beautiful," they reverently whispered in perfect unison. Isis did not hate these creatures that would surely kill them. They were no different from her pack. They were merely a product of their nature, a fact she could sympathize with.

"People! Just a suggestion, but perhaps you should flee!" Paris cried. That snapped everyone to their senses, even Isis. They all began to run towards Paris. "SHIT!" Shazza screamed. Imam, Fry, and Jack headed up the pack, with Riddick, Isis, and Shazza following suit.

The first three arrived at safe at the opening while the last three continued to run. With every passing second, the creatures gained on them. "Get down!" Fry screamed. Isis, Riddick, and Shazza leapt over a hill and landed on the ground just as the creatures went flying over them. Isis lay next to Riddick, her hand protectively placed on his shoulder.

Her eyes were bright silver, glowing brilliantly in the darkness. She stared at him intensely as she listened. The planet had grown quiet, far too quiet. She saw Shazza stir. "No, not yet," she whispered. But, Shazza was overwhelmed with fear. She leapt to her feet and ran. "No! Stay down Shazza! Just stay down!" Jack screamed.

Suddenly, Isis flipped on her back and flipped Riddick on his with her hand. No sooner had she done it, the creatures flew just centimeters over their faces. The creatures overtook Shazza and began ripping her apart while she was still alive. They ripped her in half and carried her screaming torso into the darkness, while her legs were taken in a different direction.

The smell of Shazza's blood filled the air. Isis shut her eyes tight as she fought to control the beast. She found that she was suddenly aware of the heartbeats of every human that surrounded her. Riddick's was especially strong. Her eyes flew open. Isis turned her longing gaze on his carotid artery and panted loudly. Riddick just grinned back. "Hungary are we?" Isis' looked into Riddick's eyes. "Very," she growled. Isis felt his desire for her increase tenfold. He was actually becoming aroused by her aggression. "Me too," he smirked.


	19. Black as Pitch

Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm really sorry it's taken me so long to write this chapter. I've just been really busy lately so please forgive my slowness! I really enjoyed all of your awesome reviews for the previous chapter and I thank you for your patience. Well, it's a pretty suspenseful chapter that we've got here so I hope you enjoy it. Please keep sending me reviews! It really brightens my day! Thanks again for all of your support :D

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Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 19: Black as Pitch

Isis stared back at Riddick in stunned amusement. "You are one crazy son-of-a-bitch. I'll give you that," she said with a hint of admiration in her voice. "So you noticed?" Riddick smirked. They're conversation was interrupted by the screams of the other passengers. "They're coming back!" Jack screamed. "C'mon, hurry up!" Fry added. Imam, his sons, and Paris were in such a state of hysteria that she couldn't really make out what they were screaming, but she could smell their fear. Johns was already hiding in inside, naturally. She and Riddick leapt to their feet and began to run as droves of the flying creatures filled the air.

Isis looked over at Riddick as she ran. "Damn, this place just keeps getting better and better," she grinned. Riddick looked at her. "Couldn't you just give 'em a shout out like you did last time?" Riddick smirked. She wasn't surprised at all that he knew she was the one who had made that terrible sound and not the creatures. "What the hell do you think I am-energizer bunny?" she asked. He gave her a devious smirk. "Don't answer that," she said. He chuckled, grinning ear-to-ear.

They made it to the opening just as the passengers were sliding the door shut. A new sound filled the air. It was overwhelmingly loud. Riddick and Isis stuck their hands against the door before Paris could pull it the last couple of centimeters. They stared into the darkness as massive carnivores crawled out of their respective hiding places. "What is it now, Riddick?" Fry asked. Her voice was shaky and sounded more like a child than a young woman. "Like I said, it's not me you gotta worry about it anymore," he smirked. Isis nodded in agreement and slid the door closed.

Darkness…Darkness so strong that it felt like it might crush her. _**Talk about déjà vu**_, she thought. She had smelled them the moment they had closed the door to the surface. There were more of these things down there, more than was comfortable that's for sure. Johns turned on his flashlight and began to look around. "She should have stayed down. If she'd only stayed down she'd be okay. She wouldn't have died," Jack said sorrowfully.

Isis felt sorry for the kid but said nothing. Shazza's death would only be the first. Nobody else comforted her either. "Do you remember the bone yard?" Johns asked no one in particular. "These may be just the fuckers that killed every living thing on this planet," he said somberly. Paris lit a match. "Is this all the light we have? Is this everything?" he asked. The panic in his voice rose with every syllable. "No, there's a cutting torch on the floor here somewhere. I just can't find it," Fry said. "Quiet everyone please!" Imam whispered frantically. The creatures' screeching filled the air. _**They're looking for us**_, she thought as she listened to their calls.

Johns looked over at Isis, "What are they saying?" he asked with just a hint of desperation in his voice. "What are you talking about?" Isis answered wryly. "Monsters can't talk," she spoke as if she were talking to a child. He raised his voice incredulously, "But you said monsters understand other…." Fry shushed him, cutting him off before he could finish. He glared daggers at her. He turned his gaze back towards Isis but she was already several yards ahead of him, staring into the darkness as if she saw something. _**How the hell does she do that?**_ He thought fearfully.

Another wave of the creatures' sounds filled the air. Jack leaned against the wall of the ship, trying to hear them better. "Why do they do that? Why do they make that sound?" Jack asked. "Perhaps it's the way they see, with sound…" Imam said. He was cut off by a loud crash only a dozen or so yards ahead of them. Isis growled and produced two sickle-shaped knifes out of her pants' pockets. She was in a crouching position, poised to strike at the slightest movement. Johns had no idea where she got the shivs but he was really glad he hadn't gotten close enough for her to use them on him.

Everyone snapped to attention, including Riddick who was a few yards behind Isis. "They know we're here," Isis announced matter-of-factly. She backed up slowly until she was directly next to Riddick. If Isis was reluctant to go forward, Riddick knew it couldn't be good. "I think there's a breach in the hull and that the creatures are on the others side, 'cause I can't see them," Isis whispered. Riddick's raspy voice broke the dreadful silence, "C'mon Johns, you've got the big gage," he quipped. "I'd rather piss glass," Johns said. "Why don't you go fucking check," he growled at Riddick. This actually made Isis grin. She loved seeing Johns squirm. Riddick could relate.

That idiot Paris was squealing like a girl. "I'm not staying here a moment longer," he whined and bolted. The others tried to stop him with no avail. Isis grabbed his throat, extending her claws just a bit around his windpipe and slammed him into the wall. She stared into his eyes and growled deeply within her throat as he garbled beneath her grip, "Shut your mouth or I will shut it for you," she said coolly. Her voice was low and calm. Paris shut up immediately. _**He's going to be a **_**problem, one that I may have to take care of later**, Isis thought darkly. She sniffed at him in disgust, and then unfurled her icy grip. She turned her ear in Riddick's direction and listened carefully. "We need to get out of this room." Her voice was calm but it had urgency in it that made everyone very uneasy.

Imam found a door and pried it open with a crow bar. All the passengers filed in. "Now we're trapped in an even smaller hole," Paris whined. Isis glared at him and he shut up immediately. Imam put a lock on the door and leaned his back against it. A barbed tail pierced the door coming within centimeters of Imam's skull. He cried out in surprise and ran from the door. Johns fired off a few shots in the creature's direction. Isis placed her hand on the muzzle of Johns' gun. "Save your bullets. He's already gone," she said. Meanwhile, Riddick was using the blow torch to burn a makeshift hole into the opposite wall.

The passengers stayed in the center of the next room and looked for another means of escape, while Riddick and Isis fanned out, scanning the perimeter for any hostiles. Riddick slowly crept through the darkness but was stopped by a sick crunching sound. He lifted his eyes towards the ceiling and saw one of the beasts dining on a much smaller creature. It was one the same ones that had killed little Ali. He remained frozen but felt the presence of Isis behind him. She placed her hand on his shoulders. "Slowly," she whispered and coaxed him into a deeply shadowed corner. The creature remained unaware of their presence as they disappeared into the darkness…


	20. Insatiable

Author's Note: Hi everybody! This chapter is kind of short but it's pretty jam-packed so I hope you don't get too angry with me. I could add more to this chapter but I feel like it would lose its power if I had ended it any other way. Thanks for all of the great reviews on the last chapter and I hope that you will write many more for this one!

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Pitch Black: Darkness Falls

Chapter 20: Insatiable

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Isis' eyes shone brightly as she glared at the creature in front of them. It was perched on top of a canister feasting on one of the small bat-like creatures. She could feel Riddick's hot breath against her neck as she kept her eyes trained on the beast above them. He took advantage of her distraction by leaning in and sniffing her, his lips softly grazing her neck. He felt her body stiffen and…**Did she just close her eyes and shiver? **Yes, he was sure of it. He lightly bit her at the base of her neck, causing her to turn her fiery gaze on him.

But, it wasn't anger he saw in her eyes. No, what he did see was stone cold desire. Her hand that had been resting on his shoulder now curled its longing fingers around the strap of his muscle shirt and greedily pulled his body into hers. Just as their lips met he saw Isis' eyes dart upward and widen with fear. Something gooey landed on Riddick's shoulder but before he could inspect it, Isis violently threw him to the ground and collided into one of the creatures that had spotted them. Fierce roaring and the smell of blood filled the air as Isis and the beast went tumbling out of sight.

Riddick leapt to his feet to try and assist her but froze as another creature appeared in front of him. It made its peculiar sound, frantically searching for anything it could feed on to sate its insatiable hunger. Fry and the others heard the colossal battle in the other room and came running. One of Imam's sons had been startled by the commotion but misjudged the direction it had come from. He wandered right next to where Riddick was standing and froze as the creature locked its sights on him.

"Extremely bad timing," Riddick mumbled. The boy looked at Riddick with just his eyes as if he were asking him what to do. "Just don't move," Riddick whispered and slowly melted into the darkness. The creature roared and the boy took off running. He didn't get far before two more beasts ran him down and began ripping him apart. Riddick was suddenly aware of the complete silence that filled the room and remembered Isis. _**Fuck! Where is she?**_ He thought. The cry of the others broke the silence, "Riddick? Isis? Where are you?" He slowly began to walk towards the sound of their voices, figuring that she would probably do the same.

Riddick rounded the corner and cringed when every passenger aimed their light sources in his direction. He was still several yards away from where they were standing, but his sensitive eyes couldn't take the strain. Johns lowered his gun and said, "Where's Isis?" Riddick growled in frustration. "I don't know. We got separated." Suddenly Johns raised his gun in Riddick's direction, his eyes wide with fear. "Fuck!" he screamed. "Look out!" the rest of them screamed. Riddick sprinted without looking back as a much larger creature chased after him. Riddick screamed out in pain and covered his exposed eyes as everyone instinctively pointed their lights in his direction.

Riddick stumbled and would have been overtaken if it hadn't been for Isis' knife lodging itself into the creature's brain. It screamed in agony and fell to the floor, revealing a bloody and beaten, but very much alive, Isis. Johns shot the beast at least four times after it hit the floor. His hands were still shaking as she walked up to its body and yanked her knife out.

She wiped the blood off on her pants and spat on the body contemptuously. "Did not know who it was fucking with," she growled. She looked over at Riddick and her face softened with concern. **Just when he thought she couldn't be any more beautiful** **she had to go and look at him **_**like that**_**…No one had looked at him this way since his Amy. "**Are you alright?" She asked timidly. He just nodded and proudly got to his feet, carefully replacing his goggles over his throbbing eyes. Fry shined her flashlight on the creature's body, searing its flesh. "Look, the light actually hurts them," she said. "Yeah, so do bullets," Johns added snidely. "And knives," Jack added as she gazed up at Isis with awestruck wonder. Imam looked at Isis and asked, "Have you seen other little one?" Isis simply looked into his eyes and said, "I'm sorry but we should keep moving."

And for the first time since Riddick had first laid his eyes on her, Isis looked very tired, exhausted even. That fight had taken a lot out of her. He kept replaying her and the creature disappearing into the darkness over and over again in his head. For a moment, he thought he'd lost her and it felt like losing Amy all over again. He suddenly realized that he would die for her without giving it a second thought and this terrified him.

He'd always been a loner and he'd liked it that way, hadn't he? As she looked upon him with her worried silver eyes, he realized that he couldn't imagine going on living without her. The very thought left him cold and out of breath. She was what he'd been waiting and hoping for his whole adult life. She, Isis Hale, was the key to giving Riddick back what he had lost so long ago…his soul.


End file.
